THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


I 


AN  ENDTTAVOE 


TOWARDS   A 


UNIVERSAL    ALPHABET, 


WHICH  SHALL  HAVK   A    LETTER   FOR   KVKRY   DISTINCT  sulNH  AM»  AKTK  <  I 
CTTERABLK    BY    THE    HI.MAN    VOI''K; 

WHICH  SHALL    HAVK   A    DISTINCTIVE   FORM    FOK    EACH    I.KTTtK.  THAT   SII.iI-1,    KE- 
SK^U'.f.K  NO  OT1IKK.   TNI,!-:^  IT   IS  SIMILAU  IN    I'nWKK; 

WHICH  SHALL  EKTAIN  THAT  DISTINCriVK  ANJ>  KSSKNT1AL  FORM  Of  EACH  LKTTER, 

THROUOiHOUT  THE   KANUE  Of  AXJ)  CHANGES  FOR  CAPITAL  AND  BOKV, 

OR  LOWER  CASK  1'UINTINO  LKXTMRS,  CAI'ITAE  AND  ISOHV 

ROUND  WRITING  LKTTKHS.  ANI*  SHOHT 

WRITlNl.:  LETTERS: 

AND  WIIICH  SHALL   FORM  THE  BASIS   OF   AX   EASY,  PRACTICAL    SVSTEM,   ADAPTED 
TO  ALL  KINDS  OF  PRINTING  AND  WRITING. 


BY    A.    D.    S  PRO  AT, 

CHILLICOTHE,    OHIO. 


CHILLICOTHE  : 
PUBLISHED    BY    THE    AUTHOR. 

1857. 


• 

• 

-     . 

•    . 
'. 

-          • 


AN  ENDEAVOR 


TOWARDS  A 


UNIVERSAL    ALPHABET, 


WHICH  SHALL  HAVE  A   LETTER  FOR  EVERY  DISTINCT  SOUND  AND  ARTICULATION 
UTTERABLE   BY  THE   HUMAN  VOICE; 

WHICH  SHALL  HAVE  A  DISTINCTIVE  FORM  FOR  EACH   LETTER,  THAT  SHALL   RE- 
SEMBLE NO  OTHER,  UNLESS  IT  IS  SIMILAR  IN  POWER; 

WHICH  SHALL  RETAIN  THAT  DISTINCTIVE  AND  ESSENTIAL  FORM  OF  EACH  LETTER, 

THROUGHOUT  THE  RANGE  OF  AND  CHANGES  FOR  CAPITAL  AND  BODY, 

OR  LOWER  CASE  PRINTING  LETTERS,  CAPITAL  AND  BODY 

BOUND  WRITING  LETTERS,  AND  SHORT 

WRITING  LETTERS ; 

AND  WHICH  SHALL  FORM  THE  BASIS   OF  AN  EASY,  PRACTICAL  SYSTEM,  ADAPTED 
TO  ALL  KINDS  OF  PRINTING  AND  WRITING. 


BY    A.    D.    SPROAT, 

CHILLICOTHE,    OHIO. 


CHILLICOTHE: 
PUBLISHED   BY   THE   AUTHOR. 

1857. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


To  Publishers,  and  friends  of  the  Spelling  Reform: 

THE  change  from  the  present  heterogeneous  ways  of  spelling  to  the 
phonetic  mode,  necessarily  produces  a  very  considerable  change  in  the 
Alphabet.  Phoneticians  endeavor  to  make  this  change  as  little  as 
possible,  by  using  nearly  all  the  Roman  letters,  and  adding  enough 
new  ones,  or  making  slight  changes  in  the  old  ones,  so  as  to  fill  out 
the  complement  of  a  list  of  all  the  sounds.  But  even  this  involves  a 
great  change. 

It  is  certain  that  a  person  having  an  English  education  can  learn  to 
read  Phonotypy,  as  it  has  heretofore  been  proposed,  sooner  than  he 
can  learn  an  entirely  new  alphabet,  and  read  by  it.  Now,  is  this 
advantage  (a  superficial  and  temporary  one),  and  any  other  advantages 
that  can  be  named,  which  an  emended  Roman  alphabet  may  have  over 
a  new  one  (an  AMERICAN  ALPHABET),  of  sufficient  importance  to 
countervail  the  serious  disadvantages  connected  with  it?  This  is  the 
question  which  1  wish  to  bring  emphatically  before  you.  Please  turn 
to  numbers  5,  6,  7,  8,  and  9,  in  the  body  of  this  work,  for  the  reasons 
why  we  should  have  but  one  alphabet ;  and  suffer  me  to  say  here,  that 
any  enterprise  of  this  kind  which  employs  more  than  one  alphabet, 
however  successful  it  may  be  in  its  inception,  will  not  stand  the  test  of 
time.  Why,  then,  put  up  with  amendments  ?  Why  not  make  the 
reform  a  thorough  and  permanent  one,  at  once? 

While  this  work  was  being  put  in  type,  I  have  become  aware  that 
a  variation  of  Pitman's  Phonography  is  taught  in  England,  called 
Phonical  Stenography.  The  Printing  Schemes,  as  now  proposed  in 
England  and  America,  are  variant,  and  have  been  changing  ever  since 
Phonotypy  became  agitated.  The  language  of  the  two  countries  not 
only  should,  but  must  be  the  same ;  and  not  in  its  spoken  form  alone, 
or  written  form  alone,  but  in  both.  Nothing,  therefore,  in  this  printing 
and  writing  reform  is  yet  fixed;  and  although  considerable  outlays  in 
types  and  books  have  been  made,  no  one  can  reasonably  hope  or  even 
wish  for  the  success  of  his  scheme,  when  satisfied  it  is  far  behind  what 
is  easily  attainable. 

It  is  said  that  there  must  be  a  time  when  changes  shall  cease :  when 
we  must  settle  down  on  some  plan,  and  keep  to  it.  True  ;  but  we  must 
first  have  a  plan,  and  one  on  which  the  great  body  of  those  who  speak 
our  language  can  be  made  to  settle.  ' 

I  claim  superiority  for  my  system,  on  the  following  points : 

1st.  I  claim  that  my  tables  of  vocal  and  consonant  elements  are 

v 


VI  ADVERTISEMENT. 

either  perfect,  or,  if  they  ^iould  not  be  deemed  so.  that  they  are 
nearer  the  truth  than  any  heretofore  proposed. 

2d.  I  claim  that  my  Alphabet  (the  table  of  forms  appropriated  to 
the  elements)  is  by  far  the  best  and  most  practical  one  yet  devised  for 
all  purposes  of  printing,  and  round  or  long  hand  writing;  and  this 
without  reference  to  its  connection  with  brief  writing.  For  reasons 
for  this  superiority,  see  Nos.  8  and  9. 

3d.  I  claim  that  my  Brief  Writing,  in  its  recording  stage,  is  superior 
to  Pitman's,  or  any  other,  in  its  adaptation  to  all  purposes  of  fhort 
hand,  save  that  of  reporting,  by  showing  the  exact  sounds  of  words,  in 
a  plain,  lineal,  and  easy  manner,  not  depending  on  thicknessing  the 
letters,  or  on  minute  turns,  which  cannot  be  shown  with  a  pencil,  or 
dull  pen.  See  No.  150,  and  plate  No.  3. 

4th.  I  believe  that  my  system  of  writing,  in  its  reporting  stage,  is, 
or  can  very  easily  be  made,  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  Pitman's,  even  as 
to  brevity.  By  brevity  I  mean  the  quickness  with  which  a  word  can 
be  written,  and  not  the  shortness  of  the  strokes.  As  Mr.  Pitman's 
Phonography  is  considered  to  be  the  shortest  and  best  now  known,  I 
have  made  a  comparison  between  his  and  mine,  in  plate  No.  4.  Many 
words  can  be  written  shorter  by  his  system  than  by  mine,  and  vice, 
versa.  I  think  that  any  regular  piece  of  composition,  containing  a 
dozen  lines  or  more,  where  all  the  words  are  to  be  written  out,  or 
plainly  and  separately  designated,  can  be  done  by  my  system  shorter 
than  by  his.  See  No.  151. 

5th.  I  claim  that  my  system,  as  a  whole,  although  it  may  be  im- 
perfect, is  still  integral,  and  far  in  advance  of  any  yet  proposed.  I 
solicit  investigation  of  the  above  claims,  by  those  who  are  competent 
to  judge. 

This  little  work  has  cost  me  much  labor.  I  offer  it  to  the  public 
free  of  copy-right,  feeling  that  I  have  but  little  pecuniary  interest  in 
its  success.  But  I  do  feel  a  very  considerable  interest  as  an  author 
and  philanthropist,  in  having  its  merits  and  demerits  fully  canvassed. 
If  any  one  shall  put  forward  a  better  system,  or  shall  make  improve- 
ments in  mine,  I  shall  wish  him  God  speed. 

The  recital  of  the  foregoing  claims  may  appear  arrogant  and  ego- 
tistical. I  have  made  them  with  the  view  of  eliciting  investigation, 
and  thereby  inducing  some  publisher,  or  some  society,  after  examining 
my  system,  to  undertake  its  advocacy,  in  a  monthly  paper.  To  do 
this  properly,  will  involve  a  considerable  outlay  for  matrices  for  the 
new  type,  &c.  The  journal  should  receive  and  publish  suggestions 
and  corrections  from  all  who  felt  interested;  so  that,  before  the  final 
adoption  of  any  system  or  plan,  the  relative  merits  of  all  should  be 
thoroughly  discussed,  and  the  best  one  rendered  as  perfect  as  man  can 
make  it.  I  can  spare  neither  time  nor  money  to  conduct  these  matters, 
and  must  leave  them  to  others. 

AMASA  D.  SPROAT. 

Chillicothe,  Ohio,  January,  1857. 


AN    ENDEAVOK 


TOWARDS 


A    UNIVERSAL   ALPHABET. 


INTRODUCTION. 

PROMINENT  among  the  improvements  soon  to  come  into  use, 
will  be  the  substitution  of  a  new,  or  at  least  of  a  corrected  and 
extended  alphabet,  for  our  present  one ;  and  the  consequent 
abrogation  of  our  abnormal  ways  of  spelling.  Subsequent  to 
this,  (it  may  be  long  in  the  future,)  will  be  the  regulation  to 
some  extent,  of  our  language.  That  art  by  which  all  other  arts 
are  made  known  and  their  knowledge  perpetuated,  and  by  which, 
next  to  reason,  we  are  distinguished  from  brutes;  the  medium  of 
our  social  intercourse,  and  thereby,  in  a  great  measure,  of  our 
civilization  and  happiness ;  and  above  all,  the  medium  through 
which  the  Word  of  the  Lord  is  communicated  to  us,  has  been, 
as  respects  any  sophical  amendments  in  its  construction,  or 
attempt  at  any,  almost  entirely  neglected.  It  has  been  left  to 
tumble  into  shape,  to  drift,  to  stretch,  as  ignorance,  chance,  or 
caprice,  might  sway  it. 

2.  Our  own  loved  English,  rough,  irregular,  redundant,  and 
defective  as  it  is,  we  would  not  exchange  for  any  other  tongue 
on  earth,  either  ancient  or  modern.  But  it  has  faults  which 
need  correcting,  such  as  pronouncing  different  words  alike,  and 
irregularities  in  tenses ;  and  probably  it  has  a  few  deficiencies 
which  should  be  supplied.  We  do  not  want  the  machinery  of 
Greek  or  Latin  conjugations  and  declensions,  but  we  think  that 
short  terminals  to  verbs  to  note  their  moods  and  tenses,  and  to 
substantives  for  their  numbers  and  genders,  might  be  employed 

(7) 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

with  considerable  advantage.  Endings  might  be  arranged  so  as 
to  show  the  parts  of  speech,  and  give  definiteness  to  the  meaning, 
as  -ing,  -ed,  -ly,  -tion,  -ness,  &c.  do  now;  and  so  as  frequently 
to  enable  one  word  to  express  what  is  now  done  by  several. 
Such  innovations  being  based  on  a  few  simple  rules,  might  be 
learned  by  any  person  in  a  few  hours. 

3.  The  regularity,  beauty,  and  power  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
languages,  their    grammatical    construction,  particularly  in    their 
declensions  and  conjugations,  prove  that  they  were  set  in  order 
by  men  of  science.     Many  of  their    radical  words  were  drawn 
from    other    tongues ;    some  might  have  sprung  up  fortuitously ; 
yet  no  chance  convention  of  children,  or   ignorant    barbarians, 
could   have   produced   the  harmony  and   order  we    see    reigning 
there.     Their  writing  too,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe,  was 
strictly  phonetic,  except  that  they  had  two  or  three  double  letters.* 
How  sadly  have  we   departed  from    this   plain    and    simple  way 
of  expressing  speech  on  paper !     What  years  of  toil   does   this 
departure  cause  our  youth  to  endure ! 

4.  No  living  language  is  stationary.     Ours  is  not,  and  can  not 
be  made  so;   therefore  improvements  ought    not   to  be  so   much 
regretted,  or  opposed  simply  on  account  of  the  change.     I  deem 
it  impracticable  in  the  present  state  of  religion  and  science,  for 
men    to    form    a    good    philosophical    language ;    a   perfect    one 
would   be   out  of   the    question;    and   therefore   I  Avould  correct 
our  own  as  a  man  amends  his  life,  which  is  not  by  jumping  at 
once  into  a  new  one,  but  by  gradually  reforming  the  present. 

5.  But  not  so  with  improvements  in  the  Alphabet   and  mode 
of    spelling.     Here   the   change,  when  made  at  all,  should  be  a 
thorough  one.     It  should  leap  at  once  from  the  present  deficient 
alphabet    and   heterogeneous    modes    of    spelling,    to    the    most 
perfect  means  of  recording  words  that  can  be  devised. 

*  The  rule  adopted  by  our  Latin  grammars,  of  pronouncing  c  arid 
g  soft,  as  it  is  called,  before  e,  i  and  y,  and  pronouncing  se,  oe  and  e 
alike,  has  always  seemed  to  me  absurd.  We  have  no  evidence  that 
the  Romans  ever  perpetrated  any  such  jumble;  but  have  every 
reason  to  suppose  that  with  them  c  and  g  were  always  hard, 
and  that  their  single  vowels  indicated  simple  sounds,  and  when 
two  vowels  came  together,  that  both  were  sounded  and  formed 
a  diphthong. 


. 

INTRODUCTION.  9 

6.  To  write  speech  by  having  and  using  a  separate  letter  for 
each    and    every  distinct    articulate    sound,  or    element    spoken; 
to    always    express    each    element    in  writing    or  printing  by  its 
own  proper  letter,  and  by  that  alone ;  and  to  set  down  the  letters 
in  the  same  order  in  which  the  elements  are   uttered,  are  prin- 
ciples   so    plain,  so    natural,  so   easy  to   be   learned,  and  which 
dispense  at  once  with  such  an  immense  amount  of  disadvantage 
pertaining   to  the   present   system    of   spelling,  that    they   must 
ultimately  prevail.* 

7.  Writers  on  Phonetics,  as  far  as  I  have  noticed,  have  taken 
great  pains  to  depict  the  advantages   of  Phonetic  spelling   over 
the   common  orthography.      They,   however,   adopt    the    present 
letters  as  far  as  they  go,  adding  a  few  new  ones,  or  new  parts 
to  old  ones,  to  complete  the  list.     Two  reasons  are  assigned  for 
this  course :     The  first  is  they  wish  to  retain  the  old  letters,  so 
that  the  present    generation  may  be  able   to  read  the   new  way 
with  little  trouble.     Grave  as  this  consideration  may  look,  it  is 
really  but  a  slight   one.     A  man  can  learn  a  phonetic  alphabet 
which  is   altogether  new  to  him,  and  learn  how  to  read  with  it 
in  a  few  hours ;   a  labor  insignificant  in   comparison   with  even 
the  slightest   advantage  in   an  alphabet  intended   to  spread  over 
the  world,  and  endure  for  ages.     There  is  no  advantage   to   the 
learner,   in   retaining  a  letter  as  to  its  shape,  and  changing  its 
character.     We  may  retain  the  letter  e,  but  when  we  restrict  it 
to  one  of  the  many  sounds  it  now  stands  for,  we  in  fact  make 
a  new  letter  of  it.     I  have  found  it  occasioned  me  more  trouble 
and  more  labor  to  learn  and  remember  that  a   particular   sound 
belongs  to   the  printing  a,  and  another  particular  sound  to  the 
written  form,  a,  than   to  attach  those  particular  sounds  to  new 
characters,  because  in  this  latter  case  the  other   sounds    of  the 
letter  a  are  not  constantly  occurring  to  my  mind  to  bother  me. 
The   other  reason   for    retaining    the  old  letters  is  that  the  old 

*  Although  our  table  of  elements  and  the  characters  representing 
them,  are  to  be  in  strict  conformity  with  these  precepts,  yet  a 
departure  from  them  is  convenient  in  common  printing  and  writing, 
and  even  necessary  in  brief  writing,  so  far  as  to  combine  two  or 
more  elements  which  are  frequently  associated  in  words,  in  one 
letter.  Such  letters  will  be  called  double,  or  composite  letters. 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

stock  of  types  may  still  be  used  instead  of  casting  new  ones. 
This  objection,  too,  dwindles  away  when  it  is  considered  that  a 
reform  of  this  kind  can  not  be  adopted  at  once.  The  present 
type  will  continue  to  be  used,  and  more  will  be  cast  probably 
for  centuries  yet. 

8.  The  forms  of  the  Roman  and  Italic  letters,  (g  excepted,)  are 
beautiful.  The  Italic  give  the  idea  of  gracefulness  and  delicacy  ; 
the  Roman  that  of  firmness  and  strength.  Placed  in  words  and 
sentences  they  form  a  writing  surpassing  all  others  in  its  regular 
and  noble  appearance.  Why  not  adopt  them  then  ?  Because  : 
1st.  I  wish  to  dispense  with  tailed  letters,  or  projections  below 
the  line  of  writing.  2d.  I  wish  all  the  stemmed  letters  —  those 
rising  above  the  upper  line  —  to  be  vowels,  so  that  they  may  be 
distinguished  thereby  from  the  consonants,  and  the  writing  be  read 
easier.  Too  great  uniformity  mars  the  ease  of  reading,  as  is  seen 
by  the  greater  difficulty  of  reading  a  sentence  when  it  is  in  capi- 
tals, where  there  are  no  stems  or  tails  for  the  eye  to  catch  at.  This 
object  is  attained  by  having  the  vowels  for  the  common  (or  body) 
letters  uniformly  taller  than  the  consonants.  Letters  answering  to 
our  capitals  must  all  be  of  the  same  hight.  3d.  I  wish,  as  far 
as  convenient,  to  conform  the  shapes  of  the  letters  to  their 
classification ;  thus  showing  a  connection  between  p  and  b,  f  and 
v,  &c.,  by  the  similarity  of  their  forms.  This  relationship  will 
be  better  understood  by  referring  to  my  table  of  analogical  forms 
of  the  consonants,  paragraph  No.  86.  Though  this  feature  is  very 
desirable,  it  can  be  but  partially  developed.  It  must  give  way 
to  others  of  more  practical  importance.  4th.  I  wish  to  have  the 
letters  as  simple  as  they  well  can  be,  not  giving  them  unnecessary 
or  unmeaning  parts;  so  that  they  may  be  more  easily  written,  and 
more  compactly  put  together,  and  so  that  the  eyes  may  be  less 
fatigued  in  reading  them.  Although  a  reader  can  gather  words 
with  his  eye,  as  they  are  now  written,  much  faster  than  he  can 
speak  them,  yet  if  they  were  written  phonetically,  and  with 
more  simple  characters,  he  could  gather  them  still  faster  and 
with  far  more  ease.  This  will  be  acknowledged  by  noticing  how 
much  easier  and  quicker  a  number  written  in  figures  can  be 
comprehended  than  when  in  words.  Hence,  what  I  shall  call  short 
writing  can  be  read  easier  by  those  acquainted  with  it  than 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

the  present  print.  Several  of  the  Hebrew  letters  are  so  very 
much  alike  as  to  make  it  difficult  to  distinguish  them.  The  Roman 
letters  are  free  from  this  fault,  yet  with  some  of  them  simplicity 
and  distinctiveness  of  form,  whereby  the  eye  can  apprehend  them 
easily  and  quickly,  are  made  subordinate  to  a  fine  rounded  ap- 
pearance. And  5th,  and  lastly,  I  wish  to  have  a  single  alphabet ; 
that  is,  one  series  or  set  of  letters,  which  shall  constitute  a  com- 
plete table  of  all  the  simple  elementary  sounds  and  articulations  ; 
each  sound  and  articulation  having  its  own  appropriate  letter ; 
and  these  letters  so  formed,  that  they,  or  their  analogues,  shall 
serve  for  all  kinds  of  printing  and  writing.  The  shapes  of  the 
letters  and  their  appendages,  must  be  formed,  of  course,  so  as  to 
meet  all  the  different  purposes  and  exigencies  of  printing  and 
writing ;  of  capitals,  of  common  letters,  of  short  hand  letters,  &c. 
The  intention  is,  that  throughout  all  these  changes,  each  letter 
shall,  as  far  as  possible,  retain  its  distinctive  form. 

9.  The  disadvantage  and  confusion,  and  consequent  folly,  of 
having   to   learn  and   use   three   alphabets,  or,  in   other   words, 
of  having  three  or  more  entirely  different  shaped  characters  to 
signify  the  same  letter,   as  we  now  have  for  capitals  and    small 
printing  and  short  hand  letters,  must  be  obvious  without  argument. 
All  the  advantages  of  capitals,  italics,  &c.,  are  easily  secured  by 
means  of  projections  on  the  corners,  and  small  modifications  in 
particular  parts,  by  the  leaning  of  the  letters,  and  by  change  in 
their  thickness ;   while  their  characteristic  or  essential  forms  are 
unaltered. 

10.  To  devise  forms  which  shall  best  fulfill  all  the  foregoing 
requirements  is  a  matter  of  great  labor.     Until  quite  recently  I 
supposed   I  was  the  first  to  attempt   it,  and  I  can  not    suppose  - 
my  attempt  is  not  susceptible  of  improvement.      Yet  I  must  beg 
of  any  proposer  of  new  forms,  that  he  will  previously  consider 
well    his  scheme  in  comparison  with  mine,  by  taking    his   forms 
through  the  whole  range  of  printing  and  round  and  short  and  brief 
writing.     The   organic  forms  of  the  printing  letters  must  be  the 
same  as   the  writing,  and  these  must  be  such  as  can  be  easily  and 
quickly  written  with  a  pen.     And  as  the  short  and  brief  kinds  of 
writing  Avill   be    principally  used,    I    have    arranged    the    shapes 
with   especial    regard    to    them.     Indeed   my  present  short  con- 


12  SPEECH. 

sonants,  with  a  few  exceptions,  are  the  same  as  those  in  a 
breviscriptive  scheme  I  had  formed  for  my  own  convenience  in 
A.  D.  1822.  In  fixing  the  forms  of  my  letters,  instead  of  avoiding 
the  roman,  I  can  show  that  in  my  Table  of  28  simple  consonants, 
(No.  104,)  all  but  four — he,  h,  hi  and  1,  in  the  fourth  column — are 
the  result,  as  to  their  shapes,  of  carrying  out  into  methodical 
arrangement  the  present  forms. 

11.  Mr.  Isaac  Pitman,  author  of  a   "  Manual  of  Phonography," 
and  Mr.  Alexander  John  Ellis,  author  of    "Essentials   of  Pho- 
netics," each  by  far  the  most  complete  work  of  its  kind  I  have 
seen,  deserve  great  praise  for  their  sterling  productions,  and  their 
efficient   and   untiring   exertions  to   bring   Phonetics   before   the 
public.     I  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  "  Essentials  "  for  the  con- 
figurations of  the  organs  in  forming  the  letters,  for  full  lists  of 
them,  and   nice   discriminations   between   them,    for  lists  of  the 
elements  belonging  to  the  principal  European  languages,  for  an 
ethnical  alphabet,  &c.,  &c.     I  intend  to  describe  here  merely  what 
I  consider   necessary  to  a  full  understanding    of  the   principles 
of  my  alphabet. 

SPEECH. 

12.  The  substance  of  human  speech  is  the  breath,  —  air  expired 
from  the  lungs.     Breath  has  relation  to  Truth,  and  to  Life.     It  is 
or  should  be  known,  that  the  original  words  which  are  rendered 
Holy  Ghost  and  Holy  Spirit  in  the  New  Testament,  literally  mean 
Holy  Breath.     This   Holy  Breath  in   its  descent  from   Jehovah, 
assumes  a  form  and  meaning  apprehensible  by  men  and  angels, 
and  is  then  called  the  Word;  answering  in  man  to  the  transition  of 
the  breath  into  sound,  and  the  modifications  of  that  sound  so  as  to 
form  speech.     It  would  seem  that  inarticulate  sound  and  singing, 
and   probably  the  vowels  also,  have  reference  to  the  affections ; 
while  the  consonants  are  representative  of  what  is  intellectual. 
The  letters  formed  by  the  lips  and  teeth,  being  the  most  outward 
organs,  seem  to  denote  the  more  external  truths  and  principles ; 
while  the  palatals  and  gutturals,  being  produced  further  down  the 
mouth,  signify  those  principles  more  internal.     Hence-these  letters 
enter  into  the  scripture  names  which  involve  holy  things.     The 
aspirate  H,  which  is  breath  without  sound,  or  articulation,  being 


TONE.  13 

breath  heard  simply  as  breath,  signifies  To  Be,  or  Life  itself. 
The  Jews  write  the  name  of  the  Lord  by  a  simple  H  >  (  h  ; )  and 
the  Arabic  and  Mohammedan  name  Allah  is  Al-ah,  that  is,  the  h. 
The  h  is  twice  inserted  in  the  most  holy  name  Jehovah.  The 
other  two  consonants  in  this  great  name  are  j,  or  more  properly  y, 
a  deep  sounding  guttural,  and  v,  or  properly  w,  the  most  outward 
sounding  labial ;  the  two  signifying  the  first  and  the  last. 

TONE,   OR  LARYNGAL  SOUND. 

13.  Sounds  are  vibrations  of  the  air.     They  are  heard  by  their 
striking  on  the  tympanum  of  the  ear,  whence  report  of  them  is  car- 
ried through  the  auditory  nerve  to  the  brain.     We  are  now  to  con- 
sider those  sounds  only  which  are  emitted  from  the  human  mouth. 
These  are  produced  by  the  vibrations  of  the  vocal  chords,  or  liga- 
ments of  the  larynx,  while  air  from  the  lungs  is  passing  through 
them.     This  sound  is  sometimes  called  phonation ;  and  when  mod- 
ified by  the  organs  of  the  throat  and  mouth,  it  is  called  the  voice. 

14.  Except  the  noise  of  breathing  and  of  whistling,  and  a  few 
slight  gurgling  sounds  made  by  inspiration,  all  the  vocal  sounds 
are  produced  during  the  expiration  of  air  from  the  lungs.     For  a 
description  of  the  lungs,  the  bronchiae,  the  trachea  or  windpipe, 
the  larynx  and  its  appendages,  and  the  vocal  organs  generally, 
and  their  operation  in  the  production  of  sound,  I  must  refer  the 
reader  to  works  on  Anatomy  and  Physiology ;  for  the  theory  of 
sound  to  works  on  Acoustics.     As  it  is  difficult  to  describe  intelli- 
gibly the  formation  of  consonants  and  the  sounds  of  vowels,  I 
shall  assume  those  we  have  in  our  language  to  be  already  known, 
and  attempt  the  description  of  such  only  as  are  foreign  to  it. 

15.  Laryngal  sound  is  modified  by  the  expansion  and  contrac- 
tion of  the  vocal  chords,  thereby  forming  different  tones  or  notes 
in  music.      These  tones  have  quantity,   (intensity,  or  loudness,) 
and  quality  or  timbre.     It  is  this  last  which  distinguishes  one  per- 
son's voice  from  another's.     By  this  the  ear  instantly  distinguishes 
between  the  sound  of  a  wind  and  a  stringed  instrument,  or  between 
a  note  made  by  a  flute  and  the  same  note  made  by  a  fife.     It  is 
from  a  nice  appreciation  of  this  quality,  that  one  violin  will  com- 
mand twenty  or  thirty  dollars,  while  another,  whose  appearance  is 
just  as  good,  will  sell  but  for  two  or  three. 


14  TONE. 

16.  A  person's  natural  tone  of  voice  is  the  key,  or  pitch  in 
which  ho  usually  speaks.     If  he  did  not  vary  this  pitch  his  speech 
would  be  monotonous.     Variation  upwards  is  called  the  rising  in- 
flection ;  downwards  the  falling  inflection,  or  cadence.     The  latter 
is  used  at  the  end  of  a  sentence ;    the  former  when  a  question 
is  asked.     Much  of  the  meaning  as  well  as  beauty  of  speech  de- 
pends upon  intonation,  accent,  and  emphasis ;  all  of  which  are  due 
to  the  regulation  by  the  glottis,  of  laryngal  sound  and  its  force. 

17.  Though  tones  and  forces  enter  so  largely  into  the  expres- 
sion of  speech,  we  have  very  imperfect  ways  of  noting  them  at 
present.     For   modes  of  expressing  force,  see   Nos.  25,  et   seq. 
Tones  affect  vowels  and  sounding  consonants,  and  may  be  con- 
sidered as  belonging  to  words  rather  than  to  letters.     It  will  not 
do  to  encumber  letters  themselves  with  parts  or  marks  to  indicate 
tone.     We  scarcely  ever  want  to  trouble  ourselves  about   it   in 
writing,  otherwise  than  what  the  pauses  and  other  characters  in 
use  for  other  purposes  will  indicate. 

18.  All  the  pauses  except  the  comma  and  interrogation  point, 
denote  a  cadence.     The  interrogation  point  always  marks  a  ques- 
tion ;  and  this  is  generally  made   by  the  rising   inflection.     But 
sometimes  an  emphatic  word  is  set  in  a  high  tone,  and  the  inflec- 
tion runs  downward  instead  of  up;  as,  will  you  do  it?"   In  such 
cases  the  emphatic  word  should  be  noted.     Whether  the  question 
begins  with  a  low  tone  and  runs  upward,  or  the  contrary,  it  should 
have  the  reversed  interrogation  point  (  9 )  at  the  beginning,  to  give 
the  reader  due  notice  of  it,  as  well  as  the  common  point  (?)  at 
the  end. 

19.  It  may  be  well  to  have  a  few  points  to  signify  tone  and 
inflection  exclusively.     A  triangular  dot  immediately  preceding  a 
word   placed  at  the   hight  of  a   capital   letter,  thus   Y,  will  indi- 
cate a  high  key  or  pitch  of  voice  for  that  word ;  placed  midway 
between  the  high  key  dot's   place   and   the   bottom  of  the  line, 
(thus  T)    it  will   indicate   the   middle   key;   and   at   the   bottom, 
(thus  A  )  the  low  key.     A  triangular  dot  with  a  tail  to  it,  the  head 
up,  (thus  T  )  will  show  the  rising  inflection,  indicating  that  from 
that  point  to  the  end  of  the  sentence  the  tone  of  the  words  runs 
upwards ;  and  with  the  head  down,  (thus  |,  )  the  falling  inflection, 
or  running  downwards  of  the  tone  is  shown. 


15 


PRODUCTION  OF  SPEECH. 

20.  The   parts  concerned   in   the   articulation,   (jointing,)   of 
sound,  commonly  called  the  organs  of  speech,  are  the  palate,  uvula, 
fauces,  nasal  fossae,  tongue,  teeth,  gums  and  lips.     By  these  or- 
gans laryngal  sound  and  breath  are  variously  reverberated  and 
obstructed,  (articulated,)  so   as  to  form   speech.     Whispering-  is 
articulation  of  breath  without  voice.     In  whistling  the   sound  is 
produced  in  the  mouth  instead  of  the  larynx.     Sighing,  crying, 
and  laughing,  form   no   part  of  artificial   speech,  and   need   not 
be  described  here. 

21.  The  Elements  of  Speech  naturally  divide  themselves  into 
Sounds,  called  Vowels, — vocales,  from  vox,  the  voice; — and  In- 
terruptions of  Sound,  called  Consonants, — consonantes,   sound- 
ing with,  because,  as  was  supposed,  they  can  not  be  uttered  by 
themselves,  but  require  a  vowel  to  be  sounded  with  them.     This 
was  a  mistake,  for  letters  like  z  can  be  uttered  by  themselves; 
and  indeed  we  frequently  hear  a  whole  syllable  so  uttered,  as  in 
the  words  opened,  pronounced  op'rid;  humbled,  pronounced  hum- 
bfd.     The  word  consonant  has  been  long  in  use  to  signify  any 
letter  which  is  not  a  vowel,  and  as  I  shall  need  a  word  of  this 
signification,  I  shall  so  use  it. 

22.  Our  letters  which  represent  these  elements  of  speech  are 
still  but  articles  or  joints  of  speech.     The  filling  up,  or  transit  of 
voice  from  one  letter  to  another  can  not  be  written.     Our  vowels 
are  stand  points,  and  vague  ones  too,  among  the  indefinite  shades 
and  varieties  of  tone  and  sound  which  the  vocal  apparatus  can 
send  forth.     All  these  will  run  into  each  other  :  many  consonants 
will  run  into  each  other.     Hence  it  is  evident  that  letters,  (or  writ- 
ten language,)   can  only  point  out   the   principal   landmarks   of 
speech ;  and  that  to  have  as  perfect  an  agreement  as  possible 
between  them,  we  must  make  our  speech  conform  to  the  usual  pro- 
nunciation of  the  letters,  as  well  as  make  letters  to  represent  the 
elements  of  speech. 


16 


OF   VOWELS  AND  SOUNDS. 

23.  To  vowels  belong  tone,  timbre,  sound,  loudness,  and  length. 
I  have  spoken  of  the  tone  and  timbre.      For  want  of   a  word 
having  a  more  definite  meaning,  I  shall  use  the  word  sound  to 
signify  that  quality  which  distinguishes  one  vowel  from  another ; 
thus  a  has  one  sound,  and  e  another. 

24.  As  in  the  formation  of  tone  in  the  larynx  there  is  produced 
a  gamut   or   scale   of   notes,    so   there   seems   to   be   something 
analogous  to  it  in  the  re-formation  or  re-verberation  of  that  tone 
in  the  mouth,  producing  vowels,   or  distinct  sounds.     Emerging 
from  y  where   the   proceeding  breath  is  too  closely  pent  up  to 
produce  a  clear  vowel,  and  its  hiss  in  passing   forms    that  con- 
sonant, the  first  pure  sound  uncombined  with  hissing  is  e.     By 
gradually  enlarging   and  drawing  back  the  cavity  of  the  mouth 
we  make  a  continuous  change  in  the  sound  until  we  get  to  oo, 
which  is  the  last  and  lowest  pure  vowel.    The  scale  is  then  shut 
off  by  the  lips  in  the  consonant  w.     Distributed  along  this  dia- 
pason, at  about  equal  intervals,  are  the  vowels  of  our  language, 
and  of  others.     Are  these  intervals  arbitrary  ?     Or  are  they  in 
accordance  with  some  law  of  nature,  as  are  the  intervals  of  the 
notes  in  music?     I  have  not  detected  any  such  law,  and  suppose 
the  particular  sound  of  each  vowel,  as  well  as  its  distance  from 
another,  to   be   arbitrary,  that   is,  fixed  by  custom   alone.     My 
remarks  on  particular  vowels,  their  number,  &c.,  is  deferred   to 
another  place.     See  No.  39. 

ACCENT,  EMPHASIS,  QUANTITY,  LOUDNESS  OR  INTENSITY 
OF  SOUND. 

25.  We  have  a  rule  which  says,  "Every  English  word  of  more 
than  one  syllable  has  one  of  them  accented."      In  long  words, 
besides   the  principal  accent,  there   is   a   subaccent   on   another 
syllable ;   and  in  a  few  words  even  a  third  accent.     The   accent 
then  with  us  forms  an  important  part  of  our  pronunciation;  and 
should  be  noted  in  print ;  at  least  there  should  be  a  way  to  ex- 
press it  when  we  choose.     Mr.  Ellis  says,  "  The  misplacement  of 
an  accent  destroys  the  whole  character  of  an  English  word ;  and 
as  the  position  of  the  accent  is  not  determinable  by  any  precise 


ACCENT,    EMPHASIS,    ETC.  17 

rules,  and  has  even  varied  in  the  course  of  time,  as  words  passed 
from  learned  to  conventional  use,  there  is  hardly  a  part  of 
English  pronunciation  which  is  more  difficult  to  ascertain.  In  the 
usual  orthography,  the  accent  is  never  marked,  and  the  consequence 
of  this  neglect  is,  that  few  who  are  not  Englishmen  place  the 
accent  aright ;  and  many  Englishmen  mistake  the  place  of  the 
accent  in  any  rather  uncommon  word." 

26.  Accent  is  the  distinguishing  one  syllable  of  a  word  from 
the  rest  by  a  greater  stress  of  voice.     The  marking  one  word  of 
a  sentence  from  the  rest  in  the  same  manner,  is  called  emphasis. 
I  would  make  a  distinction,  however,  between  what  may  be  called 
accented  words    and    emphasised   or   emphatic  words.     In    com- 
mon  speaking,  the  words  of  a   sentence  are   frequently  huddled 
together  as  if  they  were  but  one  word ;  and  one  or  two  of  them 
are  accented  without  any  apparent  reason  for  it.     In  saying  "  It 
was   laid  upon  the  shelf,"  we  put  a  stress  on  laid  and  shelf,  or 
rather,  a  half  stress  on  laid  and  a  whole  one  on  shelf,  hurrying 
over  the  other  syllables,  even  the  accented  one  in   upon,  as  so 
many  unaccented   syllables.     Here   shelf  may  be   called   an   ac- 
cented, or  accentuated  word ;  but  not  an  emphatic  one ;  and  laid 
a  half  accented  word;  the  others,  unaccented  words. 

27.  It  has  been  questioned  whether  accent   belongs  to  vowels 
exclusively,  or  to  vowels  and  consonants,  or  to  syllables.     When 
in  the  accented  syllable  the  vowel  is  long,  the  accent  is  evidently 
on  it;  when  the  vowel  is  short,  it  is  what  has  been  called  a  stopt 
vowel,  and  the  accent  or  stress  seems  to  be  shared  by  the  stop- 
ping  consonant.      There  is  no  doubt  that  tonic   consonants   can 
be  accented ;  and  atonic  ones  can  be  attended  with  greater  force  of 
breath,  which  is  accent  to  them.    But  the  idea  entertained  by  some, 
that  the  consonant  alone  is  accented  when  the  vowel  is  a  stopt 
one,  appears  to  me  erroneous.     Supposing  a  vowel  and  one  or  two 
or  three  consonants  coming  together,  should  all  be  considered  ac- 
cented, we  cannot  afford  to  give  them  more  than  one  accent  mark ; 
and    to  me  it  appears  all   sufficient  to   place   that  mark    to    the 
vowel.     Placed  there,  it  can  as  well  stand  for  an  accent  on  the 
whole  syllable  as  when  placed  at  the  end  of  it. 

28.  Phoneticians  have  accent  rules,  and  place  the  accent  mark 
only  to  such  accented  vowels  as  are  exceptions  to  the  rules.     But 


18  ACCENT,    EMPHASIS,    ETC. 

the  rules  are  complex  and  the  exceptions  are  many,  and  the 
same  necessity  exists  for  a  full  assortment  of  type  to  mark  the 
exceptions,  as  where  the  accent  is  always  marked.  A  prominent 
full  spoken  monosyllable  should  also  have  the  accent  mark. 

29.  An  obvious  way  of  designating  accent  is  by  doubling  the 
thickness   of  the  vowel  post,  the  upright  part.     In  writing,  the 
thick  vowel   post  can  be  expressed  by  a  heavy  downward  swell, 
without  any  extra  trouble.     The  half,  or  subaccent,  would  be  ex- 
pressed by  swelling  the  upper  part  only  of  the  vowel  post  ;  and 
the  unaccented  vowels  by  thin  posts.     An  analogous  way  of  ex- 
pressing an  emphatic  word  is  by  putting  it  in  heavier  faced  type. 
The  German  plan  of  spacing  the  words  is  a  convenient  one. 

30.  In  my  list  of  vowels,  No.  40,  the  letters  are  duplicated  to  dis- 
tinguish the  long  from  the  short  ;  the  short  letters  being  narrower. 
I  have  made  them  all  uniformly  with  thin  posts.     To  mark  them 
for  accent  too,  by  giving  them  thick  posts  as  well  as  thin,  would 
require  a  re-duplication,  or  making  four  letters  for  each  sound, 
which   is   entirely   too   many   for   convenience   in   printing.      In 
English  there  are  but  very  few  words,  (as  female,  eighteen,  plumb- 
line  ;  —  they  are  mostly  compound  words,)  where  two  long  sylla- 
bles come  together,  and  where   a   long  vowel  is   unaccented  ;   so 
that  we  may  assume  as  a  general  rule  that  all  long  vowels  are 
accented.     The  first  and  third  sounds  when  short  are  always  un- 
accented.    So  we  have  but  eight  short  simple  sounds  in  English, 
which  would   require  doubling  to  show  accent.      But  we   do  not 
wish   to    increase  the  list  of  letters  even  by  eight  ;    and  as  an 
alphabet  for  all  languages  must  be  capable    of  showing    accent- 
any  where,  I   recommend  the  employment  of  accent  marks   for 
this  purpose,  as  follows  : 

31.  The  mark  shaped  thus,  *  placed  high  up,  immediately  be- 
fore a  vowel,  will  show  a  half  accent  on  that  vowel,  or  on  the  syl- 
lable which  the  vowel  is  in  ;  and  the  double  mark,  thus  *,  will  show 
a  full  accent.     The  single  mark  placed  lower  down,  thus  \  ,  be- 
fore a  word  shows  the  word  to  be  accented  ;  and  when  double,  thus, 
^  it  shows  the  word  to  be  emphatic. 


true  representation  of  speech  requires  that  the  accent  on 
every  word,  even  the  stress  on  monosyllables,  should  be  shown; 
and  if  the  vowel  types  are  re-duplicated  to  mark  the  distinc- 


LENGTH   OF  VOWELS.  19 

tion  between  accent  and  non-accent,  this  showing  will  not  only 
be  easy,  but  must  be  done  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  as  much 
as  a  word  must  be  spelt  right  from  necessity.  Such  a  repre- 
sentation, I  believe,  will  ultimately  be  adopted  ;  but  it  is  asking 
too  much  to  go  into  it  now.  Instead  of  showing  the  stress  by 
swelling  a  part  of  the  letter,  putting  a  dot  in  a  vacant  place  on 
the  type  so  as  not  to  increase  its  width,  may  be  preferred. 

LENGTH  OF  VOWELS. 

32.  Two  lengths  only,  the  long  and  the  short,  have  generally 
been  acknowledged  in  English.      But  from  the  unsettled  condition 
of  our  speech  we  sometimes  find  a  vowel  which  it  is  difficult  to 
classify. 

33.  Messrs.   Pitman   and   Ellis   make  a  division   of  the  short 
sounds  into    brief  and   siopt ;    the  former  occupying  unaccented 
syllables,  and  ending  " smoothly,"  the  latter  ending  "abruptly," 
being  stopt,  or  cut  off  by  a  consonant  following  in  the  same  sylla- 
ble.    All   their   stopt  vowels   are    short,  and  each   one  as   they 
suppose,  has  its  mate  among  the  long  ones.    They  seem  to  con- 
sider the  distinction  between  the  stopt  and  brief  vowels  as  of  more 
consequence    than  between  brief  and  long,  as  their  six  charac- 
ters for  long  vowels  stand  for  brief  ones  too,  depending  on  the 
accent   to    determine    to  which    class   they  belong.     Their   three 
remaining  brief  vowels,  being  very  seldom  used,  are  suffered  to 
take  stopt  vowel  letters,  so  as  to  keep  the  number  of  characters  as 
few  as  possible. 

31.  I  feel  a  diffidence  in  raising  a  point  against  men  who  have 
exhibited  so  much  keen  and  careful  discrimination,  but  it  cer- 
tainly appears  to  me  that  where  a  long  vowel  is  succeeded  by  a 
consonant  in  the  same  syllable,  it  is  as  fully  stopt  or  shut  off 
by  that  consonant  as  a  short  vowel  can  be ;  and  that  when  a 
long  vowel  ends  a  syllable  it  expires  quietly  as  much  as  a  short 
one.  The  difference  between  "  expiring  quietly"  and  "stopping" 
seems  much  more  theoretical  than  practical.  As  some  of  my  rea- 
ders may  not  be  acquainted  with  their  system,  I  will  take  as  an 
example  the  word  indivisibility,  instanced  by  Messrs.  Andrews 
and  Boyle  in  their  "  Phonographic  Class  Book,"  displaying  Pit- 
man's Phonography.  They  say,  very  truly,  that  "the  beginner 
would  be  very  likely  to  use  the  small  dot,  [short  i]  for  every 
syllable."  But  they  instruct  him  that  the  second,  fourth,  sixth 
and  seventh  syllables  are  to  be  written  with  a  heavy  dot,  (that 
is,  e  long.)  The  reason  is  this :  the  word  is  divided  into  sylla- 
bles, thus,  in-di-vis-i-bil-i-ty*  the  vowels  ending  syllables  are 
brief,  the  others  are  stopt ;  and  at  the  end  of  each  brief  vowel 


20  LENGTH    OF    VOWELS. 

a  "  dicing  away"  or  short  halt  is  made,  or  should  be  understood 
before  commencing  the  next  syllable.  There  is  no  actual  halt 
made  between  the  syllables,  and  a  change  may  be  made  in  their 
division  without  producing  the  least  change  in  the  pronunciation 
of  the  word.  Notwithstanding  the  "initial  and  final  effects,"  the 
syllibication  of  letters  does  not  change  their  character  ;  and  it 
is  a  mere  bother  to  make  a  circumstance  or  situation  in  which 
a  letter  may  be  placed  an  inherent  quality  of  the  letter  itself. 
As  the  old  distinction  of  long  and  short  appears  to  me  the 
more  practical  and  apparent,  I  shall  adopt  it. 

35.  It  may  appear  to  the  English  ear  that  some  sounds,  as  e  and 
a,  are  naturally  long;  and  others,  as  i  in  pin,  and  e,  in  met,  natu- 
rally short  and  abrupt ;  and  that  the  long  and  full  sounds  are  what 
may  be  called  stationary,  and  the  short  ones  transitionary,  or  mere 
half-way  places.     We  cannot  pass  from  e  to  a  without  going  by  I. 
Let  any  one  utter  e,  and  continuing  the  voice  without  faltering, 
proceed  slowly  to  a;  he  will  come  to  an  intermediate  place,  or 
sound,  which  is  neither  e  nor  a,  but  which  has  precisely  the  sound 
of  i  in  pin.     In  the  same  manner  he  will  discover  the  sound  of  e 
in  met,  to  be  between  the  different  sounds  of  a  in  cane  and  care. 
So  also  is  short  u  between  au  and  o,  etc.     As  these  short  sounds 
are  generally  stopped  in  English  words,  they  do  not  appear  to  have 
the  same  stationary  character  as  the  long  and  full  ones.     I  believe 
this  appearance  arises  from  our  being  constantly  accustomed  to 
hear  one  class  of  sounds  pronounced  long,  and  others  short,  and 
not  from  any  inherent   quality  of  the   sounds    themselves.     The 
French  make  their  sound  in  meme,  which  is  nearly  our  e  in  met, 
long ;  so  also  is  their  sound  in    deux    long,  which  differs  slightly 
from  our  short  u ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  these  sounds  appear  to 
them  as  stationary,  as  do  a  and  6  to  us.     I  conclude  that  nature 
establishes  no  determinate  sounds,  or  intervals,  or  lengths  for  the 
vowels. 

36.  The  length  of  letters, — the  time  occupied  in  pronouncing 
them, — will  vary  according  to  the  rapidity  with  which  words  are 
uttered.     The  relative  lengths  are  somewhat  as  follows  :     A  long 
vowel  is  from  once  and  a  half  to  twice  the  length  of  a  short  one, 
and  from  once  to  three  times  the  length  of  a  consonant.     In  the 
word  stray  the  vowel  is  about  as  long  as  the  three  consonants. 
The  word  steam  is  easily  spoken  in  half  a  second.     It  may  be  di- 
vided, as  to  time,  into  three  parts,  thus,  st-e-m.     This  makes  s  and 
t  each  one-twelfth  of  a  second  long,  and  the  e  and  m  each  one- 
sixth,  and  indicates  that  short   vowels   are  about   a  twelfth.     A 
considerable  portion  of  these  times  are  taken  up  in  changes  of 
configuration, — in  passing  from  one  letter  to  another. 

37.  I  have  noticed   foreigners  sometimes  make   longer  vowels 


DEFINITIONS.  21 

than  we  do.  The  prolongation  of  a  sound  is  easily  noted  on  paper 
by  adding  letters.  Thus  a  sesquilength  vowel  is  shown  by  putting 
a  long  and  a  short  letter  together  ;  a  double  length  sound  by  two 
long  ones^  etc.  The  consonants,  which,  by  some,  are  called  con- 
tinuants, can  likewise  be  drawn  out ;  and  if  so,  may  be  represented 
in  a  like  manner. 

DEFINITIONS. 

38.  A  simple   vowel   is   one   whose   sound   remains   the   same 
throughout  its  utterance ;  or,  what  is  the  same,  one  which  is  uttered 
while  the  position  of  the  organs  of  speech  remain  unaltered. 

While  uttering  a  compound  vowel  or  dipthong,  the  position  of 
the  organs  change,  and  consequently  the  sound  changes. 

A  pure  vowel  is  one  whose  utterance  is  clear,  unattended  with 
hissing,  roughness,  or  rolling ;  one  free  from  any  peculiarity  arising 
from  the  approach  of  the  organs  toward  a  consonant. 

An  impure  vowel  is  one  whose  sound  is  modified  by  the  near 
approach  of  the  organs  toward  a  consonant,  whether  the  conso- 
nant is  heard  in  the  sound  or  not. 

What  is  called  a  nasal  vowel  is  one  which  is  uttered  while  a 
part  of  the  sound  from  the  larynx  passes  into,  or  through  the 
nostrils. 

OF  THE  ENGLISH  VOWELS. 

39.  Orthoepists  are   not   agreed   as   to   the  number  of  simple 
vowel  sounds  which  our  language  contains.     The  number  usually 
reckoned  before  Phonetics  became  agitated,  was  twelve,  as  heard  in 

1234          56789       10         11         12 
eat,  in,  age,  end,  at,  art,  on,  all,  up,  old,  f?/ll,  poor; 
and  four  diphthongal  sounds  as  heard  in  pine,  twne,  noz'se,  town. 
They  were  divided  into  long  and  short ;  the  1st,  3d,  8th,  10th  and 
12th  simple,  and  the  diphthongal  sounds  being  considered  long,  and 
the  others  short. 

We  are  just  now  in  search  of  pure  and  simple  sounds  only,  and 
of  these,  mature  observation  has  convinced  me  that  we  have  but 
ten  which  are  clearly  distinguishable  by  the  sound  alone ;  and  that 
all  these,  with  two  exceptions,  are  both  long  and  short.  My 
scheme  is  shown  in  the  following  table.  The  new  characters  in 
the  table  are  the  letters  to  represent  the  sounds  of  the  Italic  let- 
ters in  the  words  opposite  to  them ; 


ENGLISH  VOWELS. 


No.  40. 

Number. 

Form,           As  heard  in. 

1 

Long, 

1 

eve,  deep, 

1 

Short, 

1 

evoke,  depart, 

2 

Long, 

4 

(pitying,) 

2 

Short, 

1 

it,  pity, 

3 

Long, 

r 

aim,  rave, 

3 

Short, 

r 

amuse,  ravine, 

4 

Long, 

i- 

(e'er,) 

4 

Short, 

t- 

end,  sell, 

5 

Long, 

i\ 

are,  grasp,  branch, 

5 

Short, 

\ 

at,  carry, 

6 

Long, 

d 

art,  calm,  father, 

6 

Short, 

e 

market,  barrow, 

7 

Long, 

t> 

all,  warm,  loss,  slaughter, 

7 

Short, 

t 

on,  got,  borrow, 

8 

Long, 

k 

learn,  nerve, 

8 

Short, 

^ 

wp,  swn,  fwrow, 

9 

Long, 

d 

old,  hole, 

9 

Short, 

d 

obey,  whole,  only,  hollow, 

10 

Long, 

b 

ooze,  move,  pool,  too, 

10 

Short, 

It 

fwll,  pwt,  foot,  to, 

French. 
ile,  vie, 
fini, 


fee,  j'a'i, 
sujet  ete', 
meme, 
bee, 


mal, 
dame, 
madame, 
patre, 
pas,  mol, 

(pm?,) 
eaw, 
mot, 
joute. 


41.  The  first  sound  in  my  scheme  is  probably  always  long  when 
accented,  and  when  in  monosyllables ;  in  unaccented  syllables,  as 
in  the  examples,  it  is  short.     It  is  true  the  e,  in  such  cases,  is  fre- 
quently sounded  like  short  i ;  thus,  demand  is  pronounced  as  if 
written  dimmand  ;  but  good  speakers  give  to  the  vowel  the  same 
sound  as  e  long ;  that  is,  it  is  e  short,  and  not  i  short.    The  Scotch 
generally  give  this  sound  first  short  to  i  and  y  in  such  words  as 
ability,  city ;  and  the  short  i  in  French  has  always  this  sound. 

42.  I  believe  we  have  no  word  in  which  the  second  sound  is 
long.     We  make  it  pretty  closely  by  putting  two  short  i's  together, 
as  in  carrying,  rallj/ing ;  but  in  these  cases  there  is,  theoretically, 
an  intermission  of  sound  between  the  vowels,  so  as  as  to  break 
them  into  two  syllables,  and  therefore  they  should  be  written  with 


ENGLISH   VOWELS.  23 

two  short  i's,  and  not  one  long  one.     I  have  noticed  Germans 
make  this  sound  long  in  asking  for  myrrh. 

43.  The  third  sound,  like  the  first,  was  formerly  thought  to  be 
always  long,  hut  like  it,  it  is  short  when  ending  unaccented  sylla- 
bles, as  lament,  Sunday.     We  have  properly,  as  I  think,  no  words 
wherein  the  fourth  sound  is  long,  unless  the  one   in   the   table. 
Some  modern  Phoneticians,  however,  have  provided  it  with  a  char- 
acter to  be  used  in  earth,  etc.     That  sound  long  is  common  in 
French ;  and  there  may  be  some  districts  in  England  where  it  is 
given  to  care,  pair,  etc. 

44.  Mr.  Joseph  E.  Worcester,  in  his  Dictionary,  among  other 
sounds  for  a,  has  one  for  fat,  man,  carry ;  another  for  fare,  pair, 
bear ;    and  still   another  for  fast,    branch,    grasp.     As  far  as  I 
have  noticed,  people  very  generally  speak  these  words  all  alike, 
as   to   the    sound,    only   making  fat,   man,   carry,  short,  and   the 
others  long.     The  difference  in  length  has  been  mistaken,  I  be- 
lieve, by  many  orthoepists,  as  it  has  been  by  myself,  for  a  differ- 
ence in  sound.      The  a  in  fat,  pan,  and  carry,  is  short ;  in  fast, 
pant   and   care  it  is  the  same   sound  lengthened.      There  are  a 
few,  however,  in  this  country,  and  I   suppose   more   in   Engl-md 
who  do  pronounce   grasp,  &c.,  a   shade   broader,  approaching   a 
in   father.      But   is  it  politic  to  establish  a  distinction  which  is 
perfectly  useless,  which  the  multitude  does  not  countenance,  and 
which  is  too   slight   to   be   generally   noticed   when  made  ?     An 
Alphabet  made  for  the  people  of  all  nations  must  be  simple  and 
short ;    and  its   distinctions  broad  enough   to  be   obvious  to  the 
dullest  intellects.     Nice  discriminations  and  shades  of  difference 
would  be  not   only  entirely  unnecessary%  and  out  of    place,  but 
would  be  great  impediments  to  the  introduction  and  use  of  the 
alphabet.     And  if  words  should  be  made   to   depend   for   their 
meanings    on   such   discriminations,   the   mischief  would   be   im- 
mensely increased. 

45.  The  foregoing  observations  will  also  apply  to  my  seventh 
sound.     Owning,  nawght  and  caught  are  long ;  on,  not  and  cot  are 
short.    Some  persons  may  give  the  long  vowels  a  deeper  intona- 
tion, but  the  difference  they  would  make  is  entirely  too  slight  to 
found  a  distinction  on,  as  to  the  sound  alone.    If  you  pronounce 
naught  short  enough  it  will  be  not. 


24  ENGLISH   VOWELS. 

46.  I  believe  the  eighth  sound  is  short  in  all  cases  where  it  is  not 
followed  by  r,  and  in  some  cases  where  it  is,  as  in  the  word  Imrry, 
In  fervid,  bwrn,  and  such  words  it  seems  to  be  long,  and  is  gen- 
erally considered  so;   but  a  question  may  be  raised  whether  the 
u  in  these  cases  is  not  really  short,  and  its  apparent  length  due 
to   dwelling   on   the   liquid   r ;    or   rather   on   the   impure  vowel 
sound  between  the  pure  u  and  r.    (See  impures  Nos.  57,  &c.) 

47.  The  ninth  sound  is  most  evidently  short  as  well  as  long, 
even    in   monosyllables,  though   not  marked   so   in   the  diction- 
aries.    Every  good  speaker  in  this  country  makes  a  manifest  differ- 
ence between  hole  and  whole,  known  and  none,  quote  and  coat; 
while  he  equally  avoids  the  Yankeeism  of  saying  hull  for  whole,  or 
stun   for   stone.     This  short   o  in  whole  and   stone  is  what  Mr. 
Ellis  would  call  a  stopt  o  ;   but  he  does   not  acknowledge  it  in 
English  :  he  acknowledges  the  brief  o. 

48.  I  am  aware  that  in  my  last  number,  as  well  as  in  the  fifth 
and  seventh,  I  have  brought  together  two  vowels  which  are  made 
to  differ  frequently  in  sound   as   well  as  in  length.     The  sound 
we  often  hear  given  to  full,  if  prolonged,  does  not  become  fool, 
but  is  more  open.      The  difference  is  so  small,  however,  that  if 
we  shorten  the  latter  sound  it  seems  to  coalesce  with  the  former. 
The  sound  we  often  hear  spoken  in  wood,  hoop,  &c.,  is  identical 
with   the   longer   one   in   fool,  &c.     So   that    the    distinction    in 
these  two  classes  of  words  should  be  attributed  to  difference  of 
length  and  not  of  sound. 

All  the  above  vowels  are  here  considered  as  being  strictly  sim- 
ple, that  is,  as  having  no  variation  of  sound  during  their  utterance. 
Some  speakers  do  make  a  slight  diphthongal  or  cadential  ending  to 
a  few  of  the  long  vowels.  Of  these  I  shall  speak  in  another  place. 

49.  This  scheme,  then,  presents  ten  pure   and   simple   vowels, 
each  clearly  distinguishable  from  the  others,  while  yet  they  are 
BO  close  together  that  a  sound  cannot  be  interposed  between  any 
two  adjoining  ones  without  confusion.     I  would  make  these  vowels 
the    standard   not  only  for  our  language,    but  for    others.     And 
where    a   shade's  difference   is  to  be  noted   between  one  of  our 
vowels  and  a  foreign  one,  let  it  be  done  by  some  nob,  or  vari- 
ation of  the  figure.     Foreign  impure  vowels  will  come  under  a 
different  category. 


25 


NASALITY. 

50.  If,  during  the  utterance  of  a  vowel,  a  part   of  the  sound 
from  the  larynx  is  sent  through  the  nostrils,  that  part  is  called 
a  nasal  sound,  in  contradistinction  to  that  from  the  mouth,  which  is 
called  oral.    Both  sounds  taken  together  are  called  orinasal,  and 
have  been  frequently,  though  improperly,  called  nasal.     The  two 
sounds  are   readily  distinguished  by  the  ear.      The  nasal   sound 
proper  is  variable  by  intonation,  but  not  by  vocality.     A  sub- 
nasalism,  or  sound  in  the  nasal  cavities  can  also  be  produced  when 
the  nostrils  are  closed.     All  the  oral  sounds,  pure,  impure,  and 
diphthongal,  and  the  sounding  consonants,  may  be  combined  with 
nasality.     In  fact  there  is  usually  a  slight  vibration  of  sound  in 
the   nasal   cavities  in   pronouncing  our  common  vowels,  and   the 
sounding  (tonic)    consonants,  as  we  can  discover  by  holding   the 
nose,  and  thereby  interrupting  the  sound  and  producing  a  nasal 
twang. 

51.  We  want  no  new  letters  to  represent  nasal  vowels  as  they 
are  called ;   but  either  some  simple  badge  attached  to  the  vowel 
letters,  or  a  simple  and  uniform  modification  of  their  forms,  to 
indicate  that  nasal  sound  is  to  be  superadded.     Although  the  nasal 
mark  belongs  to  the  letter  itself,  and  should  be  considered  a  part 
of  it,  yet  as   it  would  be   expensive   and  inconvenient   to   have 
another  set  of  types  for  such  vowels,  I   have  adopted  the  plan 
of  representing  them  by  a  square  dot,  or  short  upright  mark  on 
a  separate  type  to  be  placed  to  the  right  of,  and  in  juxtaposition 
to  the  letter,  and  at  the  same  hight,  thus"]'  . 

52.  I  know  of  no  language,  but  the  French,  which  uses  this 
kind  of  vowels.     They  have  four,  as  heard  in   their  words  fin, 
chant,  brun  and  bon.     And  as  these  four  are  all  the  nasal  vowel 
letters  now  needed,  they  may  be  accommodated  with  separate  type 
having  the  nasal  marks  in  the  vacant  places,  thus,   S  ?    ^1  3   • 

53.  I  have  seen  some  blundering  descriptions  of  these  French 
nasalized  vowels,  even  to  confounding  them  with  the  nasal  conso- 
nants.    There  is  no  difficulty,  as  I  believe,  in  making  them  plain 
to  the  comprehension  of  those  who  have  never  heard  them.     The 
letters  m,  n,  and  ng,  are  p,  t,  and  k,  with   nasal   sound  added. 
This  sound  commences  with  the  consonant  and  ends  with  it.     It 
belongs  to  the   consonant   alone.     But  the  French   nasal  vowel 


26  DEEPENED   SOUNDS. 

sound  belongs  to  the  vowel  alone.  It  begins  and  ends  with  it,  and 
there  is  no  consonant  after  it.  Take  our  word  fan;  it  has  three 
elements,  f,  a,  n.  The  last  one,  however,  might  be  called  a  double 
element,  as  it  is  t  with  nasal  sound  added.  But  the  a  is  pre- 
cisely the  same  in  fan  as  in  fat.  It  is  not  nasal  in  either.  Now, 
if  you  pronounce  the  first  two  elements,  f,  a,  with  a  full,  strong 
voice,  at  the  same  time  letting  a  part  of  the  a  sound  pass  through 
your  nose,  you  pronounce  the  French  word  fin ;  and  that  is  all 
there  is  of  it. 

DEEPENED  SOUNDS. 

54.  While  the  particular  configuration  of  the  organs  by  which 
any  vowel,  ( e  for  example,)  is  formed,  remains  the  same,  or  nearly 
so,  the  posterior  cavity  of  the  mouth  may  be  deepened,  and  the 
palate  drawn  further  back.     These  changes  will  have  the  effect  of 
deepening  the  sound  without  changing   its  main  characteristics ; 
and  while  the  tone  or  key  note  remains  the  same.    That  a  deep- 
ened sound  is  not  a  depression  of  tone  is  made  evident  from  this, 
that  singers  often  deepen  their  sounds  as  above  indicated,  while 
they  must  of  course  accord  in  tone  with  those  singing  with  them. 
Vowels  are  often  deepened  in  speaking,  and  no  attention  paid  to 
the  difference.     Many  teamsters  tell  their  horses  to  steady  or  stop, 
simply  by  a  heavy,  prolonged,  deepened  sound. 

55.  The  French  sound  in  je  me,  which  by  some  is  supposed  to 
be  the  same  as  u  in  tub,  is,  or  was  originally,  I  have  no  doubt,  the 
deepened  sound  of  e  in  met.     The  same  sound  is  frequently  given 
to  our  the  when  spoken  rapidly.    The  sound  in  \es  mes  j'avazs,  etc., 
I  believe  to  be  the  deepened  sound  of  a,  but  it  is  difficult  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  the  sound  of  e  in  met  lengthened. 

56.  The  barytone  or  deepened  sound  is  denoted  in  a  way  similar 
to  the  nasal,  with  this  difference,  that  the  stroke,  instead  of  being 
upright,  is  to  incline  in  the  direction  ^ .     Thus  the  sound  in  je 
would  be  f-\     This  barytone  mark  may  be  on  a  separate  type  ;  or 
if  the  two  French  sounds  f"  and  f"    are  all  that  are  to  be  shown  as 
deepened,  let  this  showing  be  done  by  putting  the  marks  on  the 
same  type  in  the  vacant  places,  thus  [t  ?  h  • 


27 


IMPURE  VOWELS. 

57.  Under  the  head  of  impure  vowels,  I  include  all  such  as  have 
their  sounds  modified  by  the  near  approach  of  the  organs  to  the 
configuration  of  one  of  the  sounding  consonants,  namely,  w,  v,  dh, 
z,  y,  zh,  r,  1. 

58.  It  is  evident,  not  only  that  such  sounds  can  be  made,  but 
that  we  are  constantly,  though  unconsciously,  giving  them  utter- 
ance while  speaking ;    for  the  transition  of  the  configuration  of 
the  organs  for  one  letter  to  the  configuration  for  another,  can  not 
be  instantaneous,  consequently,  as  there  is  a  continuous  issue  of 
voice  during  the  change,  there  must,  of  course,  be  a  continuous 
change  of  sound ;  or,  in  other  words,  there  must  be  a  continuous 
series  of  sounds,  ranging   from    one   fixed    configuration    to   the 
other,  each  sound  indefinitely  short,  and  varying  in  an  indefinitely 
small   degree  from  the   next.     Wherefore,  if  in  passing   from  a 
vowel  to  a  consonant,  or  vice  versa,  we  arrest  the  change  about 
half  way,  and  continue  the  sound,  we  shall  find  it  neither  a  proper 
vowel  or  consonant. 

59.  We  want  no  character  .to  denote  the  mere  passing  from  one 
letter  to  another.    It  is  only  when  a  go-between  sound  is  dwelt  upon 
that  we  need  one.     And  then  the  form  of  the  character  should 
partake  of,  or  combine  the  forms  of,  the  letters  it  is  between. 

60.  There  are  three  impures  which  extensive  use  has  rendered 
important.     These  are  the  only  ones  I  shall  make  characters  for. 
The  first  is  the  sound  commonly  given  to  er  at  the  end  of  English 
words.     This  is  an  impure  between  u  in  up  and  r.    Premising  that 
mv  letter  for  r  will  be  f ,  the  combined  letter  formed  according  to 
the  above  suggestions,  will  be  ^. 

61.  The  French  u,  as  in  vu,  is  an   impure  between  e  and  w. 
The  Germans  have  the  same  sound  in  iiber,  and  the  same  short- 
ened in  hiitte.     Any  one  who  has  not  heard  the  sound  can  pro- 
nounce it  by  fixing  his  lips  as  if  to  whistle,  and  then  trying  to 
sound  e.     Premising  that  w  will  be  shaped  thus  ^,  the  form  of 
this   letter  will   be    ^.     As  frequently  spoken,  this  sound  would 
be  better  represented  by  ^}   ,  that  is,  i  as  in  pin,  and  w. 

62.  The  other  impure  is  the  French  eu  as  in  feu.     This  sound 
is    J-,  or  the  deepened  e  in  met  modified  by  w ;  but  the  lips  are 


28  VARIATIONS  OF  SOUND,  ETC. 

not  brought  so  closely  together  as  in  speaking  u.     The  figure  for 
this  sound  is  ^ . 

VARIATIONS  OF   SOUND.— DIPHTHONGS. 

63.  In  the  ordinary  concurrence  of  two  sounds  in  a  word,  as  in 
create,  going,  react,  each  is  sounded  at  full  length,  and  there  is  no 
stop  or  drawing  off  of  the  voice  at  the  end  of  the  first,  until  the 
organs  are  put  in  position  for  the  second;  but  the  voice  continues 
throughout  the  transition.     The  same,  too,  in  the  transition  from 
a  vowel  to  a  consonant,  and  from  a  consonant  to  a  vowel.     These 
transitions,  however,  are  made  so  rapidly  that  the  vocal  sounds 
uttered  during   them,  are   not   appreciated.     Thus,  in   the  word 
going  we  appear  to  hear  only  the  sounds  o  and  i,  and    nothing 
between  them.     But  it  is  evident  there  is  a  curved  sound,  as  it 
were,  or  an  indefinite  number  of  indefinitely  short  sounds  made 
between  them.     ( See  No.  58.)     In  all  these  cases,  the  two  vowels 
thus  associated  are  considered  as  perfectly  distinct,  and  are  to  be 
described  (written)  simply  by  their  two  vowel  letters.      I  shall 
call  them  adjoining  vowels,  to  distinguish  them  from  what  I  shall 
now  describe  as  diphthongs. 

64.  A  diphthong  proper  differs  from  adjoining  vowels  in  this, 
that  instead  of  the  two  simple  beginning  and  ending  sounds  being 
the  only  ones  heard,  they  are  shortened  up  so  as  scarcely  to  be 
heard  at  all,  while  the  intervening  ones,  (the  curved  sound,)  form 
the  prominent  feature  of  the  combination.     The  reader  will  see 
that  a  diphthong  is  not  a  blending  of  two  sounds  into  one  uniform 
sound,  as  two  colors  may  be  so  mixed  as  to  become  one,  for  this 
can  not  be  done ;  but  it  is  the  passing  from  one  sound  to  another. 

65.  An  obvious  mode  of  expressing  any  diphthong  whatever,  is 
to  write  it  by  its  continents,  the  outside  letters,  with  some  uniform 
sign  attached  to  them,  or  change  in  them,  to  show  that  they  are 
not  simple  vowels,  but  slides.     I   adopt  the  plan  of  showing  a 
letter  to  be  a  slide  by  separating  it  by  a  cut  in  two  places,  taking 
care  not  to  mutilate  it  so  but  that  the  figure  can  be  readily  recog- 
nized.    Examples  will  be  seen  in  what  follows.     By  this  simple 
contrivance  all  diphthongs,  and   triphthongs  too,  by  using  three 
letters,  may  be  described. 

66.  The  theoretical  number  of  possible  diphthongs  is  equal  to  the 


\7ARIATIONS    OF    SOUND,   ETC.  29 

number  of  permutations  of  two  letters  each,  which  can  be  made 
with  the  simple  vowel  letters.  A  very  few  out  of  this  great  num- 
ber, however,  can  ever  be  of  any  practical  service.  The  others 
can  not  be  distinguished  to  the  ear  from  short  adjoining  vowels. 

67.  There  are,  in  English,  four  generally  acknowledged  diph- 
thongs.    These  are  I,  oi,  u,  and  ou. 

I  is  spoken  variously  with  the  continents  *\  "^  (  ~\,  and  *j  "j- 
It  appears  to  me  that  f1  "1  are  the  usual  ones;  but  the  first  is 
difficult  to  determine,  because  the  slide  commences  with  the  incep- 
tion of  the  sound,  and  goes  rapidly  to  "I,  where  there  is  a  mo- 
mentary stop.  As  Mr.  Ellis,  and  others,  take  *)  for  the  first 
continent,  I  shall  adopt  their  view.  The  proper  expression  of  the 
diphthong,  then,  according  to  the  foregoing  plan  of  notation,  is 
^  "j,  that  is,  the  first  continent  divided,  the  other  not. 

68.  The  German  ei,  is  the  same  as  the  above.     Their  ai  has  for 
its  continents   {  ~\,  and  yet  it  is  quite  a  different  sound,  for  the 
reason  that  they  dwell  on  the  first,  and  not  on  the  last  continent. 
The  Greek  alpha  iota  and  the  Latin  ae  ( ae,)  are  probably  like  it. 
The  German  eu  sounds  something  like  our  T,  but  the  mouth  is  less 
open.     Its  first  continent  is  \  or  /,  its  last  the  French  u. 

69.  Our  oi,  (in  toil,  boy,)  is  very  like  a  double  vowel.     The 
continents  are  f'  "I,  and  like  the  German  ai,  the  first  one  is  dwelt 
on  before  sliding  toward  the  last.     Its  proper  expression  is  f*  ~j. 

70.  The   continents  of  u  ( as  in  new,)  are  "j  (j,  the  last  one 
slightly  dwelt  on.     Its  proper  expression  then  is  "j  \).     When  u  is 
sounded  as  in  use,  (  yuse,)  there  is,  of  course,  a  y  before  it. 

71.  The  proper  continents  of  our  diphthong  ou  are  either  ^  \) 
or  ^  \).     In  some  parts  of  New  England  the  sound  is  flattened 
into  h  b-     The  last  continent  is  a  little  dwelt  on,  and  sometimes 
the  first.     The  best  expression,  I  suppose,  is  *»,  \j. 

72.  These  four,  (i,  oi,  u  and  ou,)  I  propose  to  furnish  with  single 
characters. 

The  horizontal  and  curved  parts  of  the  vowel  marks  being  the 
most  essential  in  designating  their  sounds,  we  will  call  their  char- 
acteristics. By  combining  the  characteristics  for  the  continents 
of  i,  and  retaining  the  upright  part  common  to  both,  we  have  the 
form  -^  .  And  this  would  be  the  proper  single  character  for  i,  but 
for  the  consideration  that  the  characteristic  for  the  first  continent 


80  VARIATIONS    OF   SOUND,    ETC. 

comes  at  the  bottom  and  at  the  right  hand  of  the  figure,  and 
hence  appears  to  be  the  last  end  of  it ;  and  in  writing  it  would 
be  the  last  part  written,  instead  of  the  first.  To  obviate  this 
defect  I  place  the  first  characteristic  at  the  top,  and  then  comes 
the  following  figure  "•},  which  I  adopt  for  the  sound  of  I. 

73.  The  characteristics  for  the  continents  of  oi,  and  the  vowel 
post  common  to  both,  when  combined,  form  -f' ,  which  is  adopted 
for  that  sound. 

74.  The  characteristics  and  post  for  the  continents  of  u  com- 
bined make   "[) ,  which  is  adopted. 

75.  The  combination  of  the  characteristics  for  ou  produce   "\J. 
By  writing  the  first  letter  in  full  and  adding  the  upward  turn  for 
the  last,  we  have  the  figure  \j    .   Either  would  answer;  but  as  these 
figures  are  not  so  compact,  I  prefer  to  adopt  for  the  first  continent 
of  the  dipthong,  the  broader  sound   /.     As  the  slide  should  stare 
with  the  sound,  the  difference  is  hardly  perceptible.     This  gives 
the  diphthong  the  figure  Q. 

76.  As  an  easy  way  of  expressing  two  of  the  values  of  our  u, 
I  have  put  two  compound  vowels  in  my  full  alphabet.     The  first  is 
the  diphthong  u  preceded  by  y,  as  in  wse,  wnit ;  and  the  same  when 
unaccented,  as  in  wnite,  gradual.     The  figure  for  this  is  the  oo  to 
which  the  horizontal  portion  of  a  y  is  prefixed,  thus  "])  .    The  other 
letter  is  the  short  ii  preceded  by  y,  as  in  fortune.     The  figure  for 
this  is  "Y 

77.  Diphthongs  are  usually  spoken  in  the  same  time  as  long 
vowels.     They  are  somewhat  shortened  up  when  unaccented,  as 
will  be  noticed  in  speaking  the  words  dz're,  direct,  dwre,  duress. 
Like  simple  vowels,  they  can  be  shown  to  be  short  by  narrowing 
the  letters. 

78.  Mr.  Pitman,  in  his  recent  publications,  discards  all  double 
letters.*     He  even  writes  the  foregoing  diphthongs  by  two  letters 
each.     We  cannot  ask  an  Englishman  to  come  here  to  learn  how 
to  pronounce   his    own   language,   but  we   can    say  the   separate 
sounds  in  en,  m,  put  together  in  Mr.  Pitman's  mem  make  sorne- 

*  Since  this  was  prepared  for  the  press  I  have  seen  a  November 
number  of  the  Phonographic  Review.  On  the  inside  of  the  cover 
is  the  Alphabet,  in  which  i,  oi  and  ou  have  single  characters ;  the 
u  is  made  by  two.  This  ia  probably  the  latest  English  arrange- 
ment. 


CADENCE  AND   DIPIITHONGALISM    OF   SOUND,   ETC.  31 

thing  widely  different  from  our  rm'ne :  so  does  his  two  sounds  of 
o  u  make  something  different  from  our  ou.  I  think  Mr.  Pitman 
has  not  sufficiently  studied  the  distinction  which  should  be  made 
between  adjoining  vowels  and  a  diphthong,  ( See  Nos.  63  and  64.) 
Adjoining  vowels  always  make  two  syllables ;  a  diphthong  is  never 
cut  into  two.  This  consideration  alone  shows  that  two  vowel  let- 
ters not  marked  as  slides,  cannot  properly  represent  a  diphthong. 
A  diphthong  is  not  two  sounds,  but  one  compound  sound;  and 
therefore  there  seems  to  be  a  propriety  in  representing  it  by  one 
letter  compounded  of  the  letters  for  the  principal  sounds  heard 
in  it. 

79.  I  leave  the  fixing  foreign  diphthongs  to  others  better  ac- 
quainted with  them.     There  can  be  no  necessity  for  augmenting 
characters  for  such ;  for  all  diphthongs  whatever  can  be  correctly 
and  exactly  expressed  by  the  modes  I  have  described.     What  I 
have  attempted,  (and  what  I  think  I  have  succeeded  in,)  is  to  fur- 
nish such  principles  and  directions,  that  any  person,  who  is  ac- 
quainted with  the  sounds  of  a  language,   can  write  them  with 
accuracy ;  and  any  person  who  has  never  heard  them  can  read 
them  thus  written,  and  speak  them  aright. 

CADENCE,  AND  DIPHTHONGALISM  OF  LONG  VOWELS. 

80.  We  frequently  hear  a  kind  of  secondary  effort  in  pronoun- 
cing long  vowels,  and  sometimes,  too,  in  pronouncing  short  ones 
at  the  end  of  a  sentence.     With  some  speakers  it  is  a  cadence, 
or  tapering  off,  produced  simply  by  a  depression  of  tone.     With 
others  it  is  a  change  of  sound,  a  sliding  of  voice,  forming  a  kind  of 
diphthongal  ending  to  the  main  sound.     This  is  practiced  more  in 
England  than  in  America.     Here,  I  believe,  it  is  regarded  as  a 
patois.     This  way  of  speaking  changes  e  into  ei,  a  into  al,  or  ei, 
6  into  o-oo.     In  the  original  Saxon,  (once  written  more  Phoneti- 
cally than  at  present,)  it  is  probable  that  such  words  as  may,  ( like 
jo?/,)  had  a  diphthongal  ending,  which  was  expressed  by  the  letter 
y.     More  rarely  we  hear  a  softener  at  the  beginning  of  a  vowel. 
Thus  garden  is  changed  into  gyarden. 

81.  It  is  not  my  business  to   approve  or  disapprove  of  these 
slides ;  but  to  show  how  they  may  he  expressed.     The  directions 
for  diphthongs,  No.  65,  will  cover  all. these  cases.     For  example,  if 
I  wish  to  show  a  diphthongal  ending  to  the  word  may,  I  add  the 
slide  for  i  to  the  long  a,  ( thus  f  1-)   If  I  wish  to  show  my  pronun- 
ciation of  guard  to  be  gyard,  I  put  in  the  sliding  -\  before  the  a ; 


32  OBSCURE  VOWELS. 

or  if  I  wish  to  show  it  still  stronger  than  that  will  make  it,  I  put 
in  the  letter  for  y. 

Diphthongalism  among  nasals,  and  deepened  and  impure  vowels, 
and  changes  from  either  to  pure,  or  the  contrary,  may  generally 
be  managed  according  to  the  foregoing  directions. 

OBSCURE  VOWELS. 

82.  The  momentary,  dull  or  subtonic  sounds  frequently  heard 
in  short  unaccented  syllables,  where  the  speaker  passes   rapidly 
from  consonant  to  consonant,  paying  no  attention  to  the  sounds 
he  utters  between  them,  have  been  termed  obscure,  ( because  no 
clear  sound  is  heard,)  and  have  been  a  perplexity  to  orthoepists 
and  phonographers,  on  account  of  their  indefiniteness.     A  proper 
case  of  this  kind  is  where  there  is  a   sound  uttered  which  is  not 
due  to  the  consonants  themselves,  and  yet  no  clear  vowel  is  ut- 
tered.    The  reader,  by  noticing  what  is  said  in  No.  58,  will  be 
able  to  understand  how  it  is,  that  a  change  of  configuration  from 
one  letter  to  another,  with  a  constant  emission  of  sound  between 
them,  can  take  place,  and  yet  no  clear,  definite  vowel  sound  be 
uttered.     For  in  no  part  of  the  change  is  there  a  configuration  of 
the  organs  free  from  approximation  to  a  consonant,  and  therefore 
the  sound,  or  any  portion  of  it,  is  impure,  and  bears  more  the 
character  of  a  subtonic  than  a  tonic. 

83.  Extreme  precision  in  representing  these  sounds  would  re- 
quire   characters   for   them,  composed    of  their    containing   con- 
sonants,  (continents,)   somewhat  after  the  manner  described   for 
diphthongs,  (No.  65.)     But  such  niceties    are   inadmissible  in  a 
practical  alphabet. 

84.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  written  form  of  a  word 
should  present  the  clear,  full,  deliberate  utterance  of  it.     In  most 
instances  of  these   obscure    sounds,  therefore,  the    proper   short 
vowel  representing  the  short  sound  of  the  Roman  letter  by  which 
the  sound  is  now  written,  should  be  used.     Such,  if  there  should 
be  any,   which   cannot   be  written  with  proper  vowels,  might  be 
practically  represented  by  an  obscure  vowel  mark,  thus  shaped  3. 
This   sign   would   not   represent  a  definite  sound,  but   represent 
that  the  sound  to  come  in  at  that  place  is  short,  unaccented  and 
indefinite. 


CONSONANTS. 


33 


85.  There  are  other  cases  where  the  sounds  are  entirely,  or 
almost  entirely,  suppressed ;  as  between  pn  in  open,  sn  in  chosen, 
pi  in  apple,  vr  in  over.  Such  cases  Mr.  Ellis  writes  with  an 
apostrophe,  thus,  op'n,  cat'l.  In  these  ^ases,  that  is,  where  there 
is  an  entire  suppression  of  all  intervening  sound,  except  the  sub- 
tones  properly  belonging  to  the  consonants,  I  would  prefer  to 
write  neither  vowel  mark  nor  apostrophe ;  for  if  we  obey  strictly 
the  phonetic  principle,  we  must  make  no  mark  for  a  sound  where 
there  is  none.  I  do  not  condemn  the  apostrophe,  if  by  it  is  signi- 
fied that  there  has  been,  or  should  be,  a  sound  there,  which  is  not 
now  uttered ;  though  it  can  hardly  be  necessary  to  give  the  reader 
such  information  every  time  the  word  is  written. 

I  would  use  the  apostrophe  only  to  signify  the  possessive  case, 
and  the  contraction  of  a  word ;  thus  I  would  write  M'r  instead  of 
Mr.  for  Mister. 


CONSONANTS. 

A   TABLE  of  the  Simple   Consonants  Systematically  Arranged; 
with  Analogical  Forms. 


No. 

86. 

Labial. 

Gingival,    or 
Linguigin- 
gival. 

Palatal,  or 
Linguipal 
atal 

Guttural. 

Q£    ^ 

?Fi 

O    ^            L-J 

pr  5      ^? 

$>      HQ 

S  S.    1 

n  i 

IE.  1 

fs.  1 

£<§.  * 

«.(W       * 

«cw    * 

1!" 

I!2* 

ll'a 

!i  s, 

«  f 

Atonic, 

)  P 

i   t 

C    k 

<      he 

11 

Tonic, 

i  b 

L   a 

C  g 

f    { 

Nasitonic, 

>    m 

h     n 

/" 

Atonic, 

>    ph 

h     th 

6     ch 

0   h 

1      1 

Tonic, 

1     vh 

L     dh 

t    gh 

?•      I 

Tonic, 

ti   w 

(\    y 

C.    r 

Atonic, 

\  f 

V       B 

G    sh 

C  hi 

Tonic, 

k    v 

Li  z 

Cl    zh 

Ci  i 

34  CONSONANTS. 

THE  CONSONANTS  ARRANGED  IN   TABULAR  FORM. 

87.  This  table,  (No.  86,)  I  believe  comprises  all  the  proper  con- 
sonants that  can  be  uttered.     Some  of  them  will  run  into  each 
other,  and  of  course  many  variations  can  be  made ;  but  I  think 
these  are  all  that  should  legitimately  be  called  simple  consonants. 
As  with  the  vowels,  so  also  with  these,  Mr.  Ellis  makes  out  a  far 
greater  number  than  I  do.     This  is  owing  to  his  making  distinc- 
tions where  there  are  but  small  differences.     Thus,  beside  the  soft 
breathing,  which  is  not  heard  as  breathing  at  all,  otherwise  than 
as  sound,  he  has  five  others,  ( p.  39  and  40,)  differing  principally 
in  the  force  of  their  enunciation,  all  of  which  are  symbolized  by 
the  letter  h.     The  hamza,  (to  be  explained  No.  100,)  he  divides 
into  the  break,  and  hiatus,  which  is  an  "  exaggerated  break." 

88.  The  letters  of  the  table  taken  vertically,  are  divided  into 
four  classes,  each  column  being  a  class.     The  letters  of  the  first, 
( the  Labial  class,)  are  made  by  the  lips,  or  lips  and  upper  teeth. 
Those  of  the  second  class,  ( Gingival,)  are  formed  by  the  tongue 
and  gums  back  of  the  upper  teeth.     Those  of  the  third,  ( the  Pal- 
atal,) are  formed  further  back  in  the  mouth,  by  the  tongue  and 
palate,  or  roof  of  the  mouth.     And  the  fourth  class,  ( Guttural,) 
farthest  back  of  all. 

89.  Considered  horizontally,  the  letters  are  grouped  under  the 
names  of  close,  rough   and   soft.     The  close   letters   have   been 
called  explodents;  the  others  whispered  and  spoken,  consonants, 
liquids,  etc. 

90.  All  the  consonants  are  either  atonic  or  tonic.     The  tonics 
are  all  oritonic,  except  the  three  nasitonics.     By  atonic  letters  I 
mean  such  as  are  whispered.     They  are  without  sound  or  tone  in 
themselves ;  and  by  tonic  letters  I  mean  such  as  are  accompanied 
by  a  sound  or  subsound.     It  is  well  known  that  most  of  our  con- 
sonants are  divisible  into  pairs  of  letters,  or  couples,  having  the 
same  articulation,  and  differing  from  each  other  only  in  the  above 
respect. 

91.  There  can  be  no  resemblance  between  a  spoken  letter  and 
its  representative  on  paper.     The  two  are  essentially  and  totally 
different.     We  can  not  paint  a  sound.     The  letters  that  we  use, 
as  to  their  shapes,  are  taken  arbitrarily  to  represent  the  spoken 


CONSONANTS.  35 

elements.  The  most  direct  way  of  representing  a  spoken  letter, 
is  to  make  a  pictorial  sketch  of  the  situation  of  the  organs  in 
uttering  it.  This  can  only  be  done  with  respect  to  the  conso- 
nants, or  some  of  them.  The  vowel  sounds  must  still  have  arbi- 
trary representatives.  The  sketching  would  be  done  thus :  a 
sectional  view  of  the  lips  closed  would  denote  p.  If  sound  was 
represented  by  an  arrow-head,  the  closed  lips  and  the  arrow-head 
inside  of  them  pointing  toward  the  closure,  would  stand  for  b, 
( i.  e.  p  plus  sound.)  The  arrow-head  pointing  upward  toward  the 
nostrils,  with  the  lips  closed,  would  signify  m.  The  lips  slightly 
parted  would  indicate  ph,  (not  f.)  The  arrow-head  added,  point- 
ing to  the  opening,  would  show  vh.  The  lips  protruding,  open, 
and  the  arrow-head  would  show  w.  A  section  of  the  upper  teeth 
and  gum,  with  the  tip  of  the  tongue  against  the  gum,  would  be  t, 
etc.  Such  drawings  can  never  become  practical  letters  without 
simplifying  them  so  much  as  to  destroy  the  resemblance  between 
the  picture  and  the  letter. 

92.  But  there  is  another  basis  for  constructing  letters,  which  I 
should  wish  to  have  carried  out,  did  not  other  considerations  im- 
periously forbid  it ;  and  that  is  to  assume  some  simple  geometric 
forms  for  simple  principles,  and  always  use  them  for  such.     On 
this  basis  I  have  formed  the  characters  in  the  foregoing  table,  No. 
86,  so  as  to  make  them  analogical  representatives  of  the  conso- 
nants, to  show  the  relationship  existing  between  them.     They  are 
not  to  be  the  common  printing  letters,  which  must  be  more  simple, 
better  looking,  and  more  in   harmony  with   the   writing  letters. 
These  will  be  shown  in  the  table  No.  104. 

93.  To  form  the  Table  No.  86,  I  assume  the  figures  ),  |,  (, 
and  ^,  for  characteristics  of  the  four  classes,  (No.  88,)  and  as- 
sume a  short,  horizontal  mark  for  tonicity ;  at  the  bottom  of  the 
characteristic  for  oral,  at  the  middle  for  nasal ;  and  assume  an 
oblique  mark  for  breath.     With  these  the  whole  table  is  made,  as 
will  be  seen  by  the  following  description. 

94.  The  first  class  has  the  mark  )  for  its  characteristic.     The 
atonic  p,  the  simplest  letter  of  all,  is  this  mark  alone.     The  addi- 
tion of  the  oritonic  mark  to  this  letter,  thus,  .}_  ,  makes  b,  (i.  e. 
p  plus   sound.)     The   addition  of  the  nasitonic  mark,  thus,   }-  , 
makes  m,  ( i.  e.  p  plus  nasal  sound.)     The  audible  passage  of  air 


36  CONSONANTS. 

through  the  lips  makes  the  letter  ph,  unknown  in  our  language. 
We  have,  it  is  true,  the  digraph  ph,  (as  in  the  word  digraph,) 
but  we  pronounce  it  the  same  as  f.  The  letter  ph  is  supposed  to 
be  the  Greek  *  phi.  It  can  scarcely  be  distinguished  by  the  ear 
from  our  f,  which  is  produced  by  passing  air  between  the  under 
lip  and  upper  teeth.  As  the  ph  is  p  plus  passing  breath,  it  was 
originally  denoted  by  adding  h,  the  rough  aspirate  to  p.  It  is 
symbolized  in  the  table  by  an  oblique  stroke  started  from  near  the 
top  of  the  characteristic,  and  drawn  in  a  downward  direction. 

95.  The  ph  has  two  tonics.     The  proper  one,  vh,  .is  also  un- 
known in  our  language.     It  is  used  in  Germany,  and  by  some 
Germans  for  our  w.     This  letter  (  =  ph -f- tone,)  i^  Of  course, 
formed  from  ph  by  adding  the  tone  mark.    The  other  tonic  for  ph, 
which  may  be  called  its  casual  tonic,  is  our  w,  and  is  a  variation 
of  the  vh.     In  speaking  the  w  there  is  a  slight  protrusion  of  the 
lips,  and  an  effort  toward  making  the  opening  between  them  circu- 
lar.    The  whiz  of  the  vh  is  scarcely  heard  in  the  w,  while  the  tone 
is  a  deeper  murmur  resembling  the  sound  oo,  closer,  of  course, 
than  the  pure  vowel,  but  so  plain  as  to  make  it  the  main  feature 
of  the  letter.     It  is,  as  it  were,  a  concrete  oo. 

96.  The  attempt  to  pronounce  e  with  the  lips  fixed  for  w  pro- 
duces the  impure  French  u,  the  concrete  of  which  is  vh.     This 
concrete  may  vary  in  a  slight  degree  from  the  ordinary  vh,  (which 
has  the  edges  of  the  lips  close  to  the  teeth,)  but  not  more  than 
many  other  letters  are  capable  of  varying  without  changing  their 
names. 

97.  A  change  in  the  manner  of  passing  breath  through  the  lips, 
making  f,  is  indicated  by  a  change  in  the  direction  of  the  oblique 
mark,  thus  y  .     Its  tonic  v  is  )/  . 

98.  This  explanation  of  the  formation  of  the  first  class  will  do 
for  the  whole,  for  in  a  similar  manner  are  the  letters  of  the  other 
classes  formed  from  their  characteristics. 

99.  I  have  sufficiently  explained  the  letters  of  the  first  column 
while  speaking  of  their   relationships  ;    some  of  the    others  will 
need  a  few  words.     The  letter  marked  th  is  heard  in  thin :   its 
tonic,  dh,  is  heard  in  this.     The  nasitonic  of  k,  ng,  is  heard  in 
sw<7.     The  letter  indicated  by  ch  is  not  in  our  language,  but  com- 
mon in  the  German  and  some  others.     The  English  scholar  may 


CONSONANTS.  37 

know  it  by  its  being  the  asperate  of  k,  (  =  k  +  breath.)  Like  ph, 
it  has  two  tonics.  The  proper  one,  gh,  is  heard  in  the  German 
se%,  koeni^r.  The  casual  one  is  our  y.  The  ch,  like  some  other 
letters,  is  capable  of  considerable  variation.  When  preceded  by  a 
low  vowel,  as  in  the  German  buck,  it  is  more  guttural  than  when 
preceded  by  a  higher  one,  as  Ich.  The  tonic  of  the  most  guttural 
one  is  always  gh.  The  tonic  of  the  high  one  is  y,  ( as  in  ?/et,)  and 
this  is  the  concrete  e.  The  soft  atonic  of  k  is  heard  in  sAall;  the 
soft  tonic  in  azure,  vision. 

100.  The   mute   guttural   marked   he,  is   produced   by  closing 
down  the  epiglottis,  or   top  of  the  windpipe.     It  is  uttered  in 
coughing,  in  groaning,  and  very  forcibly  when  the  breath,  having 
been  pent  up  during  exertion,  is  suddenly  and  audibly  let  loose. 
A  cough  is  a  spasmodic  effort  of  this  kind.     Mr.  Ellis  says  this  is 
the   Arabic   hamza.     His  own  name  is  "the  break,"  and  when 
strongly  expressed,  "the  hiatus."     He   gives  an  example  of  its 
use  by  a  London  Cockney,  as  follows,  the  colon  standing  for  the 
hamza  or  hiatus:  "  On  :iz  hone:  ee  neve:  saw  e  :ous  like  this  ere 
:ous,  neve:,"  [On  his  honor  he  never  saw  a  house  like  this  here 
house,  never.]     The  hamza  can  be  spoken  about  as  easily  and  as 
distinctly  as  the  other  mutes,  and  hence  it  is  a  good  letter.     I 
have  heard  several  persons  use  it  occasionally  in  place  of  t  or  c, 
apparently  because  they  were  too  lazy  to  pronounce  the  proper 
letter.    As  the  closure  of  this  letter  is  formed  just  over  the  larynx, 
and  below  the  openings  into  the  nostrils,  it  has  no  corresponding 
tonic  and  nasitonic  letters. 

101.  H  is  the  true  asperate  of  the  above  letter  he,  and  hence 
it  is  a  proper  letter,  ( which  some  have  doubted.)     It  is  the  audible 
passing  of  breath  through  the  epiglottis,  and  along  the  upper  pas- 
sages, and  mouth,  unobstructed  by  other  letters.     It  can  be  uttered 
at  the  beginning  and  end  of  vowels,  and  before  and  after  conso- 
nants.    It  is  often  necessary  to  the  full  pronunciation  of  a  mute 
or  close  letter  ;  as  in  the  word  oft,  pronounced  oft-h ;  and  in  such 
cases  it  has  been  called  a  post  whisper.     The  letter  h,  ( explosive 
breath,)   has   to   follow  the  mute,  to   indicate  to  the  ear  of  the 
hearer  the  kind  of  mute  used.     Breath  only  is  frequently  used  in 
place  of  a  short  and  obscure  vowel.     Thus  the  word  often  is  fre- 


38  CONSONANTS. 

quently  pronounced  oft-hn ;  sometimes  it  is  shortened  into  of 'n. 
The  Irish  put  the  h  into  a  multitude  of  words. 

102.  The  letter  r  is  placed  in  the  table  as  being  the  tonic  of  h. 
It  does  not  seem  to  be  very  properly  so,  tho'  it  is  the  only  tonic 
the  h  has.     The  atonic  of  the  common  r  seems  to  be  a  guttural 
somewhat  between  h  and  ch,  a  very  rough  breathing.     The  trilled 
or  asperated  r  is  not  properly  a  simple  consonant.     Its  asperation 
can  be  shown  by  putting  an  h  before  it,  or  by  a  double   letter 
shaped  thus,  <f . 

103.  To  pronounce  1  the  tongue  must  be  in  contact  with  the 
roof  of  the  mouth,  while  sound  passes  by  the  sides  of  it.     It  is 
the  purest  specimen  we  can  get  of  laryngal  sound  unmodified  by 
reverberation  in  the  mouth.     The  letter  I  have  marked  hi  in  the 
table,  that  is,  the  proper  atonic  of  1,  is,  of  course,  a  passing  of 
breath  instead  of  sound,  while  the  organs  remain  the  same  as  for 
1.     It  is  difficult  to  pronounce  this  hi  in  connexion  with  a  vowel 
without  sounding  1  between  them.     The  Welsh  11  is  not  this  atonic 
1,  as  it  is  said  to  be.     I  have  had  several  Welshmen  pronounce 
their  11  for  me,  and  they  made  it  the  same  as  ch,  (  which  they  also 
have,)  except  that  it  is  still  more  guttural.     The  table  begins  with 
p,  the  most  external  and  close  atonic,  and  ends  with  1,  the  most 
internal,  open,  and  soft  tonic. 

104.  The  table  which   follows   has  the  letters  in  their  proper 
shapes  in  place  of  their  analogical  characters  in  Table  No.  86. 
In  this  table  every  letter  stands  in  its  proper  place,  classifie-1  by 
the  heading  at  the  top,  and  described  by  the  words  at   thi.   left 
hand  side. 


ANOMALIES. 


A   TABLE  of  the  Simple  Consonants  Systematically  Arranged. 


IS 
o 

cT  - 

GO 

O 

[o.  104. 

Atonic, 
Tonic, 

Labial. 

Gingival,    or 
Linguigin- 
gival. 

Palatal,  or 
Linguipal 
atal. 

Guttural. 

Power  of 
Analogical  ] 

Characters.  ] 

Power  of 
Analogical  ) 

Characters,  j 

Power  of 
Analogical  ] 

Characters,  j 

Power  of 
Analogical  ) 

Characters,  j 

OP 

1  1 
Jd 

Co 

^    he 

t  Nasitonic, 

J\m 

In 

fi    "g 

t 

£ 

Atonic, 
Tonic, 

V  pn 

Pth 

Bdh 

/"   ch 

G 

^    h 

Tonic, 

^   w 

7  y 

f    r 

OQ 
o  J 

Atonic, 

\_   f 

2      3 

O  sn 

U    hi 

^  Tonic, 

Vv 

2  . 

Z  A 

Ui 

ANOMALIES. 

105.  I  have  already  said  that  several  of  the  consonants  will  run 
together,  and  that  anomalous  sounds  can  be  pronounced  between 
two  proper  letters.  It  would  seem  to  be  not  only  unnecessary, 
but  in  bad  taste,  for  a  language  to  make  use  of  such  sounds  when 
we  have  such  an  abundance  of  proper  letters  already  furnished ; 
for  if  a  language  were  to  be  made  comprising  a  thousand  times 
the  number  of  words  in  any  present  one,  the  present  list  of  simple 
vowels  and  consonants  would  be  amply  sufficient  for  it.  But  as 
my  system  may  appear  defective,  unless  it  can  write  all  the 
sounds  of  the  principal  European  tongues,  I  must  notice  such  as  I 
know  to  be  in  use. 


40  ANOMALIES. 

106.  The  French  gn  Liquid.     Perhaps  the  nearest  we  can  come 
to  agneau  with  the  English  power  of  our  letters,  is  ang-nyo ;  but 
this  is  not  precisely  the  thing.     From  the  specimens  I  have  heard 
of  this  liquid,  gn,  I  believe  the  following  to  be  a  true  analysis  of 
it.     If  the  reader  will  pronounce  n,  ( en,)  in  the  usual  way,  put- 
ting the  fore  part  of  the  tongue  to  the  upper  gums,  and  afterwards 
pronounce  it  with  the  tip  of  the  tongue  on  the  lower  gums,  while 
the  middle  portion  of  it  only  is  in  contact  with  the  upper  gums, 
or  roof  of  the  mouth,  he  will  perceive  a  manifest  difference  of 
sound,  though  the  last  is  evidently  n.     If,  keeping  the  fore  part 
of  the  tongue  down,  he  makes  the  contact  between  the  tongue  and 
roof  further,  and  then  still  further  back,  he  will  come  to  a  point 
where  the  sound  appears  no  longer  as  n,  but  as  ng.     Now  this  gn 
I  believe  to  be  a  mongrel  engendered  between  the  letters  ng  and 
n.     Most  of  those  I  have  had  to  pronounce  it  for  me,  have  worked 
it  as  though  they  had  a  thick  tongue,  making  a  continuous  con- 
tact with  the  roof  of  the   mouth  from   ng   to  n.     Sometimes  I 
would  hear  a  slight  g  before  the  nasal.     The  break  of  the  con- 
tact, supposing  a  vowel  to  follow,  would  commence  on  the  ng  side, 
making  the  sound  slide  slightly  toward  n ;  but  finishing  the  break 
in  such  a  betweenity  that  a  slight  y  must  necessarily  follow  be- 
fore the  succeeding  vowel  could  be  pronounced. 

The  figure  of  this  half-way  letter,  then,  should  be  something 
between  the  form  of  ng  and  n,  as  this,  j£. 

107.  The  French  II  Liquid,  or  -ille.     Possibly  the  reader  has 
listened  for  half  an  hour  to  a  French  master  showing  him  that 
sometimes  these  letters  are  pronounced  so ,  and  so ,  (giv- 
ing examples  in  French  words,)  and  sometimes  they  are  not  pro- 
nounced at  all,  so .     And  in  following  his  guide  in  the  latter 

case  he  may  have  been  puzzled  to  make  out  he  had  such  a  pudding 
in  his  mouth,  that,  with  his  best  efforts  toward  the  utterance  of  an 
1,  he  could  not  accomplish  it.     Nor  could  he  see  clearly  into  the 
reason  given,  why  he  should  try  to  pronounce  a  letter  as  it  were, 
and  yet  omit  to  pronounce  it  at  the  same  time.     In  the  former 
case  he  may  have  astonished  his  teacher  at  the  close  of  the  lec- 
ture, by  what,  to   him,  seemed  a  plain   question,  enunciated   in 
something  like  this  form :  "  If  you  make  an  1  out  of  an  1  at  all, 
why  don't  you  let  it  stay  an  1  ?  " 

This  peculiar  1  seems  to  have  originated  like  gn,  from  a  thick 
tongue,  or  from  great  carelessness  in  speaking.  In  pronouncing 
it  the  tongue  is  flattened  out  more  than  for  1 ;  the  root  of  the 
tongue  is  brought  closer  to  the  roof  of  the  mouth,  while  the  tip  is 
retracted.  The  "  liquid "  is  preceded  by  I,  (  =  e  in  English,) 
which  is  compressed  into  a  y,  and  is  forced  along  a  straightened 
passage  where  several  gutturals  seem  to  be  struggling  for  birth. 
Among  them,  sometimes,  something  like  an  1  actually  escapes, 


DOUBLE   LETTERS.  41 

and  sometimes  it  almost  does  it.  In  ordinary  talk  there  is  no  1 
spoken.  The  e  slides  into  its  concrete,  y,  and  the  syllable  ends 
there.  The  next  syllable  begins  with  y ;  the  two  y's  being  equal 
in  length  to  a  long  vowel. 

Form.  The  form  of  the  unpronounced  1  I  must  leave  to  be 
fixed  by  the  man  that  painted  the  angel  out  of  sight.  The  liquid 
1  being  something  between  y  and  1,  or  a  passing  from  y  to  1  may 
be  shaped  thus,  "\J . 

108.  Lisping,  (lithping,)  is  the  production  of  a  mongrel  be- 
tween the  clear  sibilant  s  and  the  rough  th.     It  is  used  for  s  by 
those  who  can  not  speak  the  letter  plainly;  and  as  it  is  considered 
a  defect,  it  needs  no  letter. 

DOUBLE  LETTERS. 

109.  By  a  double  letter,  I  mean  a  single  type  or  figure  which 
represents  two  letters,  as  the  Roman  letter  j,  as  pronounced  by  us 
includes  the  letters  d  and  zh.     It  is  quite  convenient,  and  almost 
necessary  for  us  to  have  letters  for  the  four  diphthongal  vowels  ; 
but  besides  them,  we  can  do  without  any  such  combinations  in  print- 
ing and  round  hand  writing ;  in  which  I  think  it  best  not  to  use 
them  at  present.     I  do  not,  however,  seek  to  influence  the  ques- 
tion whether  they  shall  ultimately  be  employed.     A  few  will  be 
necessary  in  brief  writing. 

110.  Some  phoneticians  insert  tsh  and  dzh,  (j,)  in  their  alpha- 
bets.    If  put  in  mine,  their  genesis  will  be  as  follows.     The  tsh  is 
sh,  ((£  ,)  with  the  stem  turned  down  horizontally,  and  a  portion  of 
the  circular  part  made  straight  and  upright  to  represent  t,  thus, 
Q".     The  round  writing  letter  is  ^J**,  and  the  short  letter,  O"~. 

The  printing  letters  d  and  zh  joined  together  and  slightly 
changed  make  jr; ;  this  is  the  printing  j.  The  round  writing  let- 
ter is  3^,  the  d  part  being  commenced  from  the  bottom.  But  to 
join  easily  to  a  preceding  letter,  the  lower  part  of  this  d  must  be 
left  off;  and  to  maintain  a  proper  discrimination  between  the 
remaining  portion  of  the  letter  and  y,  (  1)  ,)  the  loop  or  small 
circle  must  not  be  omitted.  This  loop  and  the  circular  portion 
immediately  joining  it,  form  the  short  hand  letter  <±s. 


42 
CAPITALS,  ITALICS,  VARIETIES  AND  STYLES  OF  LETTERS. 

111.  Capital  letters,  as  they  are  called,  or  letters  larger  and 
having  different  shapes  from  those  in  the  body  of  the  writing  and 
printing,  have  been  used  since  very  early  times  in  the  history  of 
writing,  for  headings  of  discourses,  for  the  first  word  or  first  letter 
of  a  sentence,  and  first   letter  in  many  other  words.     It  is  not 
much  over  a  century  since  English  printers  commenced  every  sub- 
stantive word  with  a  capital ;  and  our  grammars  now  contain  defi- 
nite rules  for  their  use.     These  letters  add  to  the  variety,  and 
probably,  somewhat  to  the  beauty  of  a  writing,  but  beyond  this 
there  is  but  little  utility  in  them.     They  are  seldom  or  never  used 
to  change  or  settle  the  meaning  of  a  word.     Proper  pointing  will 
always  show  where  a  sentence  ends :  a  capital  will  show  where  one 
begins.     But  is  such  showing  necessary  ?     The  first  word  of  a  dis- 
course or  chapter  is  frequently  put  in  capitals,  and  the  first  letter 
of  that  word  in  a  large  capital,  as  much  as  to  say,  Here  the  chap- 
ter commences.     The  fancy  is  still  kept  up  in  some  publications  of 
making  this  big  letter  ornamental,  and  sometimes  of  enclosing  it  in  a 
cartoon  or  case,  entirely  separated  from  the  other  parts  of  the  word. 

112.  The  universal  use  of  capitals  in  connection  with  lower  case 
letters,  causes  them  to  be  regarded  as  essentials,  rather  than  em- 
bellishments ;  and  a  scheme  of  writing  which  would  dispense  with 
them  would  be  greatly  prejudiced  thereby. 

113.  Many  styles  of  letters,  varying  from  each  other  in  their 
thickness,  in  the  projections  from  their  corners,  in  their  ornaments, 
etc.,  will  be  in  use:  and  it  will  do  no  harm  to  call  one  of  these 
styles  capital,  and  another  lower  case  letters.     And  both  of  these 
styles  may  be  made  leaning,  and  then  they  may  be   called   or 
answer  for  Italic  capital  and  lower  case  letters. 

114.  In  conformity  with  this  usage  of  two  sorts  of  letters  in  a 
writing,  and  in  order  that  it  can  be  carried  out  in  my  scheme,  I 
put  two  sorts  or  styles  in  my  alphabet ;  the  first  to  be  called  capi- 
tal or  head  letters,  because  they  are  put  at  the  heads  of  discourses, 
sentences  and  words;   and  the  other,  body   letters,  because  they 
constitute  the  body  of  the  writing.     Leaning  letters  and  ornamen- 
tal styles  will  also  be  made,  together  with  round  writing  or  script 
type,  and  short  writing  type.     So  we  can  have  plenty  of  variety. 


THE    FULL    ALPHABET.  43 

115.  The  capital  printing  letters  are  all   of  the  same  height. 
The  body  printing  vowels  are  the  same  height  as  the  capitals,  but 
the  body   consonants    are   only  two-thirds   of  that   height.     The 
writing  capitals  and  body  vowels  are  the  same  height,  and  double 
that  of  the  body  consonants.     Writing  capitals  are  essentially  the 
same  as  the  writing  body  letters,  but  made  larger,  heavier,  and  with 
flourishes.     Short  vowels   are  double  the  height  of  short  conso- 
nants.    For  the  mode  of  expressing  capitals  and  italics  in  short 
writing,  see  No.  136. 

116.  The  following  proportions  of  parts  may  serve  for  common 
printing  letters. 

Capital  Vowels  and  Consonants  and  Body  Vowels  to  be  six  parts  high. 
The  height  of  Body  Consonants  to  be  four  parts  ; 
The  width  of  Long  Vowels  to  be  three  parts ; 

do.       of  Short      do.     to  be  two       do. 

do.       of  Capital  Consonants  to  be  four  parts  ; 

do.       of  Body  do.        to  be  three    do. 

The  swelled  parts  of  Capitals  to  be  one  part  thick ; 

do.  of  Body  Letters  to  be  two-thirds  that  of  Capitals; 

The  thin  portions  of  Letters  to  be  half,  (  or  one-third,)  the  thick- 
ness of  the  swelled  portions. 
The  horizontal  projection  on  the  ends  of  the  letters  to  be  the  same 

thickness  as  the  thin   parts  of  the   letters,  and  to   project 

equal  to,  (  or  once  and  a  half,)  the  thickness. 

THE  FULL  ALPHABET. 

117.  The  letters  we  have  heretofore  described  being  collected  in 
consecutive  order,  present  ten  long  and  ten  short  simple  vowels, 
four  English  diphthongs,  two  compound  diphthongs,  yu  and  yu, 
(and  as  many  more  diphthongs  and  compounds  as  you  please,) 
four  French  nasal  vowels,  ( and  all  the  other  vowels  nasalized,  if 
need  be,)  two,  (  or  more,)  deepened  vowels,  three,  ( or  more,)  im- 
pure vowels,  two  mongrels,  twenty-eight  simple  consonants,  and 
two,  (  or  any  other  number  of,)  double  consonants. 

118.  The  lithographic  plate  headed  "  The  Full  Alphabet,  Plate 
No.  1,"  has  a  vertical  double  line  running  to  the  bottom,  dividing 
the  plate  into  nearly  equal  parts.     On  the  left  hand  side  are  the 
vowels;    on  the  right,  the   consonants.     At  the  top  of  the  first 


44  PKACTICAL   ALPHABET    FOR  ENGLISH. 

column  on  the  left,  after  the  heading,  the  reader  will  see  the  num- 
ber "  1  1,"  meaning  the  1st  sound  long,  with  the  word  "eel,"  having 
that  sound  in  it.  On  the  same  line  in  the  next  column  are  the 
capital  and  body  printing  letters  for  that  sound,  in  the  third  col- 
umn the  capital  and  body  round  writing  letters,  and  in  the  fourth 
column  the  short  writing  letter.  In  the  next  line,  immediately 
below  "1 1,"  is  "  1  s,"  meaning  1st  sound  short,  with  a  word  having 
that  sound  in  it,  the  letter  indicating  the  sound  being  in  Italic ; 
and  on  the  same  line,  in  the  proper  columns,  are  the  printing  and 
round  and  short  writing  letters  for  that  sound.  In  the  third  line, 
is  "  2  1,"  that  is,  second  sound  long ;  but  as  we  have  no  words 
with  that  sound  long  in  it,  the  place  for  a  word  is  vacant ;  the  let- 
ters for  that  sound,  however,  follow  on  the  same  line.  Then 
comes  "2s  in,"  and  on  the  same  line  the  different  letters  for  it. 
And  so  on  through  the  ten  long  and  ten  short  simple  vowels. 
Then  follow  the  six  diphthongal  vowels  in  the  same  manner  ;  then 
the  four  French  nasals,  and  two  deepened  sounds ;  which  brings  us 
to  the  bottom  of  the  plate.  The  three  impure  vowels  are  put  at 
the  bottom  on  the  right  hand  side. 

Commencing  at  the  top  of  the  plate  on  the  right  hand  side  of 
the  double  ruled  line,  are  the  consonants,  following  the  same 
arrangement  as  the  vowels  on  the  left. 

THE  PRACTICAL  ALPHABET  FOR  ENGLISH. 

119.  In   strictness,   ten   vowels   and    twenty-eight   consonants 
comprise  the  list  of  simple  elements.     The  principal  accidents  of 
vowels,  are  length,  force  and  tone,  ( No.  23.)     The  last  two  are 
shown  by  concomitants,  but  the  determination  of  length  is  so  im- 
portant that  it  must  be  shown  by  the  letters  themselves,  and  there- 
fore a  duplication  of  the  simple  vowels  is  necessary.    The  other 
vocals,  though  varying  in  length  by  accent,  are  not  doubled.     For 
English,  the  four  diphthongs  are  necessary.     The  two  compound 
ones  yu  and  yu,  and  the  double  consonants,  j  and  ch,  may  be  con- 
venient, but  are  not  necessary. 

120.  All  the  letters  we  need  then  in  English  are  eight  long  and 
ten  short,  simple  vowels,  four  diphthongs,  and  twenty-two  conso- 
nants, (  =  44.)     In  No.  121,  below,  the  capital  and  body  letters 
for  printing,  answering  to  Roman,  for  these  forty-four  letters  are 


PRACTICAL    PRINTING    ALPHABET.  45 

shown  quite  large,  so  as  to  exhibit  the  shapes  and  proportions  of 
parts  more  accurately.  Leaning  letters,  answering  to  Italics,  will 
be  the  principal  variations  from  these.  It  will  be  an  easy  matter 
to  fix  the  shapes  of  them  when  they  shall  be  needed.  Other  vari- 
ations for  ornamental  purposes,  etc.,  will  also  be  made. 

THE  PRACTICAL  PRINTING  ALPHABET. 
No.  121.        Vowels.  Consonants. 


11    IT 
i  i 

r  r  r  r 
*  t 

I-VS 

/  ri  / 

/  e 


dd  ^d 
bb  &  TJ 
1  ^  f  f 
*1r  flff 


3  o   3  8 


\  v 

Vv 
I  i 

j  j 

I  JL 

PP 

Be 


aa  Cc 


flR 

7? 
5s 
Zz 


re 

Uu 


46 


OF  POINTS,  FIGURES,  AND  OTHER  CONCOMITANTS   OF 
THE  ALPHABET. 

122.  Most  of  the  points  and  other  characters  now  in  common 
use.  will  be  needed.  The  following  are  adopted  from  those  now 
universally  in  use,  and  therefore  they  need  no  explanation  : 


123.  The  common  parenthesis,  when  used  in  short  and  brief 
writing,  will   be  made  much   longer   than   the   short   letters   for 
c  and  p. 

The  parenthesis  ^  ^)  is  used  by  Mr.  Ellis,  and  others,  to  in- 
clude words  printed  in  the  common  orthography,  and  will  be  useful 
for  that  purpose. 

The  hyphen  in  short  and  brief  writing,  must  be  a  double  mark, 
thus,  =,  and  the  dash,  a  single  one  twice  the  length  of  the  short 
letter,  —  .  ; 

124.  Instead  of  using  the  dagger  and  other  figures  for  refer- 
ence marks,  I  would  use  the  star  (*)  alone  for  the  first  reference, 
and  add  to  it  the  figures  2,  3,  4,  &c.,  for  succeeding  references  on 
the  same  page.     In  Bible  references,  or  wherever  they  are  nu- 
merous, the  figures  alone,  or  letters  of  the  alphabet,  will  be  used. 
All  figures  in  mathematics,  the  sciences,  etc.,  can  be  as  well  em- 
ployed with  my  alphabet  as  with  the  Roman. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  points,  etc.,  are  the  following  con- 
comitants of  the  alphabet  hereinbefore  explained,  viz  :  Y  high  key, 
»  middle  key,  A  low  key,  T  rising  inflection,  |  falling  inflection  ; 
see  No.  19  :  s  half  accent,  '*>  full  accent,  ^  accented  word,  ^  em- 
phatic word  ;  see  No.  31  :  also  sliding  vowels,  see  No.  •  65  :  ob- 
scure vowel  mark,  see  No.  84  :  anomalies,  see  Nos.  106,  107. 

SPELLING   AND    WRITING. 

125.  The  one  simple  rule  for  spelling,  to  be  followed  without 
exception,  is  to  speak  or  write  down  each  letter  as  the  sound  it 
stands  for  occurs  in  pronouncing  words.     Thus  the  spelling  of  a 
word,  (or  the  letters  composing  it,)  will  indicate  the  pronunciation  ; 
and  the  pronouncing  a  word  will  show  its  spelling.     Considered  in 
this  light,  the  writing  is  called  Phonography.     Considered  as  a 
universal  medium  for  writing  different  languages,  it  would  be  called 
Pasigraphy. 


SHORT   WRITING.  47 

126.  Phonography,  compared  with  our  present  way  of  spelling, 
presents    the   following    advantages :      1st.  About   two-thirds    the 
number  of  types  or  letters  are  required  in  a  composition,  there 
being  no  redundants,  and  no  contrivances  to  exhibit  a  single  sound 
or  articulation  by  two  or  more  letters  instead  of  one.     2d.    The 
time  of  learning  to  read,  the  alphabet  being  committed,  is  reduced 
from   years   to   minutes.      3d.    It  will  establish   a   uniform    pro- 
nunciation wherever  the  language  is  spoken.     4th.  It  will  afford  a 
ready  means  of  showing  the  exact  pronunciation  of  words  in  other 
languages,  thereby  rendering  their  acquisition  much  more  easy. 

127.  The  only  difficulty  in  spelling  aright  is  in  determining  what 
is  the  exact  pronunciation.     Tuesday  cannot   be  written  without 
deciding  whether  it  is  tewsdy  or  chewsdy,  or  tyusdy.     This  is  no 
part  of  my  present  business. 

No  consonant  can  be  doubled  in  a  word  except  it  is  a  compound 
one,  where  a  distinct  effort  is  made  on  the  second  tetter,  as  in 
mis-spent,  innate,  solely ;  t  must  be  retained  in  words  ending  in 
-nts,  -Its,  and  -fts.  Thus  cents  will  have  the  t  in  it,  and  sense  will 
not,  though  they  are  apparently  pronounced  alike.  So  must  p  be 
retained  in  words  ending  in  -mp  where  s  is  added. 

128.  The  expense  of  procuring  matrices  for  new  type  prevents 
me  from  displaying  my  Alphabet  in  print.     Plate  No.  2  contains 
paragraph  No.  6  in  round  writing,  and  part  of  the  same  in  short 
writing  unabridged. 


SHORT  WRITING. 


129.  This  writing  retains  the  essential  parts  only  of  the  letters. 
The  simplest  forms,  or  marks,  that  can  be  made  on  paper,  are  the 
point,  ( dot,)  the  straight  line,  and  the  circle  and  its  parts.     These 
are  our  elements  for  short  and  brief  writing.     The  short  letters, 
both  consonants  and  vowels,  are  shown  in  plate  No.  1,  under  the 
head  of  short  letters.     The  brief  consonants  are  nearly  the  same 
as  the  short;  but  in  brief  writing  the  vowels  are  designated  by 
very  short  marks,  half  circles,  hooks,  large  and  small  dots,  &c. 

130.  The  consonants  are  composed  of  straight  marks,  quarter 
circles,  and  small  circles,  (loops.)     If  a  circle  be  divided  by 

a  horizontal  and  vertical  diameter,  the  quarters  will  re-' 
present  four  short  letters :  and  a  horizontal  and  vertical 
two  more,  as  in  the  margin.  If  the  whole  be  turned  round 
forty- five  degrees,  the  position  of  six  other  letters  will  be 
shown  :  see  margin.  These  twelve  simple  characters  are  applied 
to  the  twelve  consonants  most  in  use.  The  other  letters  are 
necessarily  more  complex. 

131.  We  frequently  see  all  distinction  between  the  atonic  and 
tonic  letters,  ( No.  90,)  confounded  by  foreigners,  who  are  never- 
theless perfectly  well   understood.      Such  characters   have  been 
allotted  to  most  of  these  couples  as  are  most  likely  to  be  mistaken 
for  each  other.     By  this   arrangement,  if  a  corresponding  letter 
should  be   formed   by   a    little    carelessness    in   its  position,   or 
intentionally  substituted  (in   brief  writing,)   on   account   of   the 
lineality  or  beauty  of  the  writing,  the  legibility  is  not  affected. 

132.  The  horizontal  letters  are  written  from  left  to  right.     The 
perpendicular  and   oblique   ones   are  written   downwards,  except 
such  as  lean  like  /  ,  which  may  be  written  either  way.     The  loop 

4  (49) 


50  SHOKT  WRITING. 

of  a  letter,  except  $ ,  is  always  the  first  part  written,  and  the 
stem  starts  off  tangentially  to  it.  Sr  is  written  f~ ;  ss  is  £s ,  or 
rf ;  pr  is  7T"  >  or  it  may  De  written  "Y~  ,  the  last  half  of  the  p 
being  left  off ;  mpr  should  be  '"$',  the  better  to  distinguish  it  from 
mtr;  dc  is  _&_,  or  ^,  the  first  part  of  the  c  being  left  off;  dr  is 
either  J~  or  f  .  These  three  cases  of  pr,  dr,  and  dc,  are  the 
only  ones  where  one  consonant  is  allowed  to  cross  another. 

133.  The  vowels   are  double   the   height  of  the  other  letters. 
Every  part  of  a  letter  should  be  made  plain  and  full,  but   not 
swelled.     The  exact  position  and  shape  of  the   letters   must  be 
maintained ;  the  straight  must  be  perfectly  straight,  the  upright 
perfectly  upright ;  there  must  be  no  general  leaning  of  short  and 
brief  letters. 

134.  The  paper  to  be  written  on  should  be  ruled,  or  faint  lined, 
as  is  commonly  done,  to  keep  the  lines  straight.     The  faint  lines 
will  constitute  what  is   called   the  bottom  line  of  writing,  below 
which  the  writing  should  not  pass.     At  the  distance  of  from  the 
eighth  to  the  tenth  of  an  inch  above  the  faint  line  is  an  imaginary 
line  called  the  top  line  of  the  consonants,  which  the  upper  ends 
of  the  perpendicular  and  oblique  consonants  are  to  touch ;    and 
at  the  same  distance  above  this  is  another  imaginary  line,  called 
the  top  line  of  the  vowels,  which  the  upper  ends  of  the  vowels 
are  to  touch. 

135.  The  horizontal  consonants  may  be  placed  on  the  upper  or 
lower  line  of  the  consonants  as  will  be  most  convenient  in  joining. 
The  letters  of  a  word  must  be  placed  close  together ;  they  need 
not  join ;  but  where  it  is  more   convenient  to  join  them,  do  so. 
Oft   times   the   pen  must  be  lifted   from   the   end  of  one   letter 
to  the   commencement  of  the   next.     But   this   is   not   so   great 
a  disadvantage  as  it  may  at  first  appear ;  for  a  person  can  take 
his  pen  off  from  one  point  and  put  it  down  on  another,  in  just 
about  the  same  time  that  he  can  make  a  stroke  between  them ; 
that  is,  he  can  write  two  disconnected  lines,  thus   |  |  ,  as  quickly 
as   he   can   write   them   connectedly,   thus,     [/\  .       It  is   better 
that  no   marks   should  be   made   in   this   writing   but   what   are 
significative. 

Vowels  are  generally  written  downwards,  but  it  is   sometimes 
easier  to  project  one  upwards  from  a  preceding  consonant. 


SHORT    WRITING.  51 

136.  A  capital  letter  is  denoted  by  a  dot  over  the  head  of  it,  in 
a  line  with  the  direction  of  the  letter.     A  small  dot  over  the  letter 
will  signify  a  small  capital,  and    a   large  dot    a   large  capital,  as 
/"  s,  /    S.     A  short  stroke,  light  or  heavy,  in  the  place  of  the 
dot,  will   signify  a   small   or   large  Italic  capital,  as  /  s,  /*  8. 
Capital  and  italic  words  can  be  shown  by  underscoring,  as  is  now 
done  by  writers  for  the  press ;  viz,  one  line  for  italics,  two  lines 
for  SMALL  CAPITALS,  and  three  lines  for  LARGE  CAPITALS. 
Points,  figures,  marks,  &c.,  as  mentioned  in  No.  122,  are  to  be 
used   in   short  and  brief  writing,  the  same  as   in   round   hand, 
putting  them  at  a  little  distance  from  the  words.     The  comma  is  a 
simple  cuspis,  thus  f ,  the  semicolon  a  point  and  cuspis. 

Common  abbreviations  and  initials  of  names  are  expressed  by 
writing  a  point  at  the  foot  of  the  letter  in  a  direct  line  with  it. 

137.  Numbers  will  commonly  be    expressed   by  words,  or  the 
Arabic  numerals,  (figures,)    as  they  are   at   present.     In  tables, 
calculations,  etc.,  where  they  are  so  situated  that  they  cannot  be 
mistaken  for  common  letters,  the  following  letters  are  used  for  the 
figures  standing  over  them  : 

1  234  5  67890 
—  J  I  ^  \  /  )  (  ^  . 
Those  composing  a  number  may  be  written  separately,  or  joined 
in  the  usual  way,  or  unusually,  that  is,  the  end  of  one  joined  to 
the  next,  not  at  its  end,  but  somewhere  along  its  length.  An 
object  in  thus  connecting  them  is  to  show  them  to  be  figures.  In 
performing  arithmetical  operations  they  must  be  separate.  As 
like  straight  letters  coming  together  will  not  join  without  coin- 
ciding they  must  be  written  separately,  as  >l^0  (  55.)  Cyphers 
occurring  together  are  expressed  by  so  many  dots  in  a  horizontal 
row.  The  decimal  point  is  indicated  by  a  colon,  as  $^_x"l\^  5 
(14.60.) 

138.  Current  Short  Writing.     Although  all  contractions  prop- 
erly belong  to  the  brief  department,  yet  it  may  be  convenient  to 
abbreviate  the  short  mode  of  expressing  vowels, 

1st.  By  using  half-length  vowels,  when  they  will  join  to  a  suc- 
ceeding consonant  and  make  an  angle  with  it.  As  such  vowels 
will  be  distinguished  from  consonants  only  by  their  height  in  the 
writing,  they  must  always  come  up  to  the  upper  vowel  line 


52  ADVICE   FOR   WRITING    SHORT   HAND,   ETC. 

2d.  By  writing  ing  at  the  end  of  words  by  simply  turning  o  on 
the  end  of  the  preceding  letter,  as  "Y3  bring. 
3d.  By  omitting  obscure  vowels. 

ADVICE  FOR  WRITING  THE  SHORT  AND  BRIEF  HANDS. 

139.  Do  not  try  to  write   before   you   have   studied  well    the 
instructions.     It  is  easier  to  take  a  little  care,  and  start  right,  and 
go  right  from  the  first,  than  to  cure  an  erroneous  habit  afterwards. 
In  order  to  write  well  and  write  fast  in  time,  write  slow  at  first. 
Place  your  paper  square  before  you,  and  as  there  is  to  be  no 
sloping  of  letters,  as  in  common  writing,  the  face  of  the  pen  must 
be  turned  more  to  the  right.    Make  every  letter  as  near  as  possible 
to  its  exact  shape  and  size,  and  in  its  proper  position.     A  proper 
distance  is  to  be  observed  between  the  words ;  also  between  the 
lines. 

140.  Be  not  discouraged  at  not  being  able  to  read  your  writing 
easily  at  first.     You  can  neither  read  nor  write  rapidly  until  you 
are  familiar  with  the  letters  and  way  of  spelling.     Practice  will 
soon  accomplish  this  familiarity.     Let  your  writing,  unless  where 
you  are  sparing  of  room,  be  open  and  bold.     Nothing  is  gained  in 
time  by  making  the  letters  diminutive ;  besides  they  are  apt  to  be 
not  so  well  formed. 


BRIEF  WRITING. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

141.  Stenography,    Brachygraphy,    Short    Hand,    and  Brief 
Writing,  or  Breviscription,  all  mean  the  same,  namely :  the  art  or 
process  of  writing  by  fewer  and  more  simple  characters  than  those 
in  common  use.     The  word  now  used  to  designate  this  writing  is 
Phonography,  which,  etymologically,  means  the  writing  of  sound. 
In  a  strictly  philosophical  sense,  sound  can  not  be  said  to  be  writ- 
ten at  all,  unless  its  impact  on  the  ear  of  the  hearer  can  be  called 
so  ;  and  this  fades  away  during  the  very  moment  of  its  impres- 
sion.    But  sounds  are  signified  or  represented  on  paper  by  letters, 
which,  when  collected  into  certain  groups  called  words,  represent 
words  of  speech.     This  representation  of  speech  on  paper  is  Pho- 
nography in  its  broad   sense;    and   hence  our  present  abnormal 
mode  of  writing  might  be  called  by  that  name ;  for  the  seven  let- 
ters in  the  word  thought,  when  put  together  in  that, order,  signify 
the  spoken  word,  or  the  sound  of  that  word,  as  fully  as  would  be 
done  by  a  proper  system  in  which  the  word  would  be  written  with 
three  letters.     A  proper  system  of  representation  requires  a  letter 
for  every  sound,  and   to  have  the  letters   follow  each    other   on 
paper  in  the  same  consecutive  order  as  the  sounds  follow  each 
other  in  speaking.     And  to  this  corrected  mode  of  representation 
many  writers  now  restrict    the  meaning  of  the  word  Phonogra- 
phy.    But  thus  restricted,  the  word  makes   no   reference   as   to 
whether  the  letters  are  simple  or  complex,  whether  the  writing  is 
done  easily  and  quickly,  or  the  reverse.     It  contemplates,  besides, 
the  writing  of  all  the  sounds,  so  that,  although  intndd  is  sufficient 
to  show  the   word  intended,   it  would  not  be  Phonography,   or 
writing  the  sound  of  the  word.    Phonography,  therefore,  is  not  the 
proper  name  for  Short  Hand. 

142.  The  principal  object  sought  of  Brief  Writing,  is  the  means 
of  recording  words  with  dispatch, — nearly  or  quite  as  fast  as  they 
are  delivered  by  a  speaker.    A  minor  object  is  that  the  writing  may 
occupy  less  space  on  paper.     These  ends  are  attainable  to  such 
an  extent,  as   to  constitute  important  advantages  over   common 

(53) 


54  BRIEF  WRITING. — INTRODUCTORY. 

writing ;  for  the  time  spent  in  writing  an  article  in  short  hand,  as 
well  as  the  space  occupied  by  it  when  written,  need  not  exceed 
one-fourth  of  what  they  would  be  in  long  hand ;  while  the  article 
can  still  be  read  with  ease  and  certainty. 

143.  A  good  system  must  be, 

Plain,  so  that  the  writing  may  be  read  without  the  least  diffi- 
culty : 

Short,  that  the  writing  may  be  easily  and  quickly  done : 

Simple,  so  as  to  be  easily  acquired  and  remembered. 

These  requisites  have  a  mutual  dependence ;  for  if  we  strive  to 
make  our  writing  very  plain,  we  lessen  the  speed  with  which  we 
write ;  if  we  make  it  very  short,  we  endanger  its  legibility ;  and 
if  we  make  it  very  simple,  or  short  to  be  learnt,  we  deprive  our- 
selves of  the  ways  of  abbreviation,  which  are  convenient  to  every 
one,  and  necessary  to  the  reporter. 

144.  From  these  considerations  arises  another,  which  is,  that 
the  system  should  be  capable  of  varying  its  ways  of  writing,  so  as 
to  accommodate  itself  to  the  various  uses  and  exigencies  for  which 
it  is  designed ;  that  it  should,  in  a  plain,  neat,  and  tolerably  expe- 
ditious manner,  express  words  with  the  utmost  precision,  and  thus 
be  a  safe  and  reliable  continent  for  important  records ;  and  that  it 
should  also  furnish  such   modes  of  contraction  that  when    haste 
requires,  sentences  can  be  written  in  the  shortest  possible  manner. 

145.  Most   of  the   characters   now  used   in   every  system,  or 
scheme,  being  the  shortest  and  simplest  of  all  possible  marks,  will 
always  continue  to  be  used  in  all  ages  and  languages.     The  merit 
of  each  particular  scheme  will  depend  on  the  judicious  application 
of  them  to  the  elementary  sounds  of  the  language. 

146.  In  forming  the  alphabet  I  have  been  guided  by  the  follow- 
ing principles,  adopted  chiefly  from  Byrom : 

1st.  Every  simple  sound  in  the  language  should  have  its  proper 
character,  which  should  be  sufficiently  distinct  from  all 
others. 

2d.  These  characters  should  be  the  shortest  and  simplest  marks 
in  nature. 

3d.  Those  marks  which  are  shortest  and  most  easily  formed, 
should  be  assigned  to  the  sounds  which  are  of  most  fre- 
quent occurrence. 

4th.  The  most  frequent  combinations  of  letters  in  speaking 
should  consist  of  characters  which  will  most  readily  join, 
or  run  into  each  other  in  forming  these  combinations. 

5th.  Such  marks  should  be  assigned  to  the  letters,  that,  when 
joined  together  in  words,  they  will  not  interfere  with  each 
other,  or  go  much  above  or  below  the  common  line  of 
writing. 


BRIEF    WRITING. — INTRODUCTORY.  55 

Oth.  Those  characters  subject  to  be  mistaken   for  each  other, 
should  represent  letters  of  similar  power. 

147.  No  one  of  these  principles  is  to  be  followed  out  exclu- 
sively.    It  is  in  giving  to  each  its  due  weight  that  their  excellence 
as  a  whole  must  consist.     I  have  endeavored  with  patient  labor  to 
arrange  the  alphabet  in  accordance  with  them ;  and  in  prosecuting 
the  system  I  have  been  guided  by  the  considerations  of  legibility, 
brevity,  beauty,  and  ease  of  attainment. 

148.  I  claim  as  new  in  my  system,  1st,  The  arrangement  of 
the  letters  in  more  perfect  accordance  with  the  above  principles  ; 
2d,  The  arrangement  of  the  different   modes  of  expressing   the 
vowels,  whereby  the  precise  sounds  are  shown  in  a  short  and  plain 
manner  ;    3d,  The  half  lettering  ;    4th,  Merging  unaccented  vow- 
els at  the  beginning  and  end  of  words ;    5th,  Manner  of  writing 
Initiants  and  Terminants ;  6th,  Merging  1,  n,  r,   s,  and  d,  or  re- 
ducing to  a  few  simple  rules  the  way  of  expressing  two  or  three 
letters  in  one,  by  varying  the  thickness  and  length  of  the  char- 
acters. 

149.  The  foregoing,  commencing  at  No.  142,  is  part  of  what 
was  written  many  years  ago  as  a  Preface  to  my  "  System  of  Brevi- 
scription,"  previous  to  my  entertaining  the  idea  of  the  Endeavor. 
A  few  alterations  have  been  made  to  bring  it  in  more  perfect  unity 
with   the  forepart   of  the  Endeavor,  but  I   have  not   sought   to 
change  its   particular  adaptation  to  the  English  language  rather 
than  to  universal  Phonography. 

150.  Brief  writing   must   eventually   come   into   general   use. 
Thousands  will  use  it  in  their  ordinary  affairs  where  one  will  use  it 
professionally  as   a  reporter   of  debates.     It  is  immensely  more 
important  to  have  a  system  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  thousands 
and  the  millions,  than  to  the  few.     My  desire  has  been  to  fill  both 
uses ;  but  especially  the  great  one,  by  furnishing  a  Writing,  1st, 
That  shall  contain  a  full  alphabet,  where  every  sound  can  be  plainly 
written,  and  where   no   minute  niceties  of  turns,  or  leaning,  or 
lengths,  or  thicknesses  are  necessary  to  escape  confusion,  and  con- 
sequently where  any  word  whatever,  when  properly  written,  can 
be  read  with  the  utmost  ease   and  certainty;   2d,  That   can  be 
learnt  without  difficulty,  and  by  a  moderate  amount  of  labor ;    3d,  • 
That  can  be  written  with  ease, —  by  which  I  mean  that  the  letters 
and  combinations  shall  follow  the  same  order  in  writing  as    in 
speaking,  and   so  obviously  that   no   thought  is  required  in  the 
arrangement ;  4th,  That  shall  be  fair  in  its  appearance  and  lineal- 
ity :  5th,  And  that  shall  be  as  brief  as  the  foregoing  requisites 
will  allow. 

151.  The  Reporting  stage  contains  a  few  general  rules  by  which 


56  BRIEF  WRITING. — INTRODUCTORY. 

most  of  the  words  in  our  language  can  be  shortened.  Probably 
three-fourths  of  the  words  we  use  which  contain  three  or  four 
consonants,  may  be  safely  contracted  by  merging,  where  the  writer 
has  a  fine  pen  and  shows  the  swellings  plainly.  Tables  of  con- 
tracted words,  and  other  appliances  resorted  to  by  reporters,  will 
be  needed;  most  of  which,  I  presume,  can  be  attached  to  my  sys- 
tem as  well  as  to  any  other.  I  am  wholly  unacquainted  with  the 
business  of  reporting ;  I  have  read  no  works  on  the  subject,  and 
leave  this  part  of  my  system  confessedly  unfinished. 


BRIEF   VOWELS. 


152.  The  short  letters,  their  forms,  and  the  manner  of  writing 
with  them,  have  already  been  described  under  the  head  of  Short 
Writing,  beginning  with  No.  129 ;  to  which  the  reader  is  referred, 
as  the  remarks  there  made,  with  the  exception  of  what  is  said  of 
short   vowels   and   of  joining,  will   apply   to   brief  writing   also. 
Brief  Consonants  are   the   same   as   short  ones,  except  that  the 
loops  are  made  small,  that  they  may  not  be  in  the  way  of  dotted 
vowels,  and  the  strokes  made  long   that  dots  can  be  written  on 
them;  and  except  duplicates,  double  letters,  solid  heads,  substi- 
tutes, and  contractions,  as  will  hereafter  be  explained.     See  for- 
ward for  table  of  Brief  Consonants,  No.  198. 

153.  The  Brief  Vowels  bear  some  analogy  to  the  short  ones, 
but  still  they  are  quite  different.     We  have  two  general  methods 
of  expressing  them. 

THE    FIKST    METHOD 

Is  by  using  the  following  brief  vowel  letters  for  the  sounds  in  the 
words  next  them : 

-  eve,         c  end,        /  all,  on,         U  ooze,  full,        c  due, 
i  in,  ->  are,  at,    x  up,  =>  ice,  C  out, 

r>  aim,         c  art,          w  old,  O  oil,  cr  use. 

These  brief  vowels,  when  in  words,  are  to  be  joined  to  the  con- 
sonants they  are  next  to,  and  all  the  letters  of  each  word  are  to  be 
joined  together  when  practicable,  excepting  as  will  be  shown. 

154.  Four  of  these  vowels  are  straight  marks.     The  first  five 
crooked  ones  are  half  circles.     The  oo,  I  and  u,  differ  from  6,  a 
and  a,  in  having  their  ends  extended  so  as  to  bring   them  into 
something  like  an  ox-bow  shape.     The  oi  and  ou  are  more  bellied 
than  I  and  u,  making  three-fourths  of  a  circle.     The  fourth  vowel 

(5T) 


58  BRIEF  VOWELS. 

(  sound  end,)  is  always  written  upwards.  The  sixth  vowel,  ( sound 
art,)  and  cr  yu  are  always  written  downwards.  The  other  letters 
are  written  either  end  first  according  to  circumstances. 

155.  These  vowels,  instead  of  being  double  the  length  of  the 
consonants,  as  in  short  writing,  are  distinguished  from  them  by 
being  only  a  quarter  or  a  third  of  their  length.  They  are  to  be  no 
longer  than  what  is  necessary  to  show  their  form  and  direction. 
The  only  way  of  distinguishing  a  long  from  a  short  vowel,  is  by 
swelling  it.  Accent,  however,  frequently  determines  the  length, 
and  this  is  marked  by  writing  a  dot  close  to  the  side  of  the 
accented  vowel. 


156. 

EXAMPLES. 

lor  r 

eat, 

L-N 

tame, 

f»     ring, 

r 

at, 

f\ 

rat, 

(*     wrong, 

r 

ought, 

ft 

write, 

r°     wrung, 

•i 

out, 

f^\ 

rot, 

f*     rang, 

J  or  L 

tea, 

(f 

wrought, 

/*     seeing, 

L 

tie, 

£! 

decent, 

/**      sighing, 

U 

team, 

en 

accent, 

£      sawing, 

| 

feet, 

/ 

deer, 

\cf/     various. 

In  accordance  with  strict  phonography  every  long  vowel  should 
be  swelled ;  but  it  is  seldom  necessary  to  do  that.  A  swelled  i, 
(  perpendicular  mark,)  is  e,  and  is  only  to  be  used  where  the  ends 
of  the  letters  it  joins  are  horizontal,  as  \f*~  green. 

157.  As  respects  the  time  spent  in  writing  them,  these  little 
brief  vowels  are  no  shorter,  or  very  little  shorter  than  consonants ; 
for  the  impulse  guiding  the  fingers  in  .forming  one  proceeds  from 
the  mind,  and  must  have  reference  to  the  commencement,  direc- 
tion and  ending,  ( length,)  of  the  stroke ;  and  all  these  things  can 
be  as  quickly  attended  to  in  forming  a  mark  the  common  length 
of  a  letter  as  in  a  shorter  one. 

158.  Independently  of  size,  the   crooked  vowels   are   distin- 
guished from  the  consonants  by  a  much  greater  curve.     To  guard 
further  against  mistaking   straight  vowels  for   consonants,  they 
should  be  turned  backward  when  it  can  conveniently  be  done ;  that 
is,  the  contrary  way  from  which  a  consonant  would  be  written,  as 
(**\  rib,  and  the  words  feet  and  dear  above,  No.  156.     It  may  be 


BRIEF  VOWKL6.  69 

better  in  some  instances  even  to  make  one  consonant  cross  another 
than  to  write  the  vowel  forward,  as  *£  fear,  ^^  leap,  ^£~  war. 

159.  With  the  exception  above,  vowels  must  always  be  so  writ- 
ten as  not  to  interfere  with  the  letters  they  are  joined  with ;  thus, 
in     5  due,  the  crook  for  the  u  is  written  upwards,  in    I     tone  it  is 
written  downwards.     Where  letters  will  not  join  in  the  usual  way, 
one  must  be  Joined  on  to  the  other,  as  ^  iota.     An  acute  angle 
with  a  consonant  is  preferable  to  an  obtuse  one ;  thus  __r—  is  to 
be  preferred  to  — v_. 

160.  There  are  a  few  occasions  wherein  a  circular  vowel  must 
lean  a  little  out  of  its  erect  position,  as  l/\  teat,  ^V/*  bear,    (f~ 
car ;  and  a  few  where  one  arm  of  an  ox-bow  must  extend  a  little 
farther  than  the  other,  as   /j  suit.     A  circular  vowel  between  two 
consonants  should  make  an  angle  with  one  of  them. 

161.  A  straight  vowel  letter  can  generally  be  written  before  a 
looped  consonant  as  well  as  before  any  other,  as  f~  rich,  ~\?° 
brush.    "So  can  frequently  a  circular  rowel,  as    ^      approach. 
A  small  loop  can  sometimes  be  turned  inside,  as  („    coach;  other- 
wise the  joining  is  inconvenient.      It  is  better  even  to  lift  the 
pen  and  join  on  the  looped  letter,  as    Cj>     T  than  not   to  make 
the  word  plain.     But  better  ways  of  writing  such  cases  will  be 
shown. 

162.  It  frequently  happens  that  a  straight  mark  rowel  is  to  be 
joined  to  a  consonant  baring  the  same  direction.     It  will  not  do 
to  denote  a  rowel  by  merely  writing  the  consonant  a  little  loapii 
than  usual ;  but  if  there  is  another  consonant  on  the  other  side  of 
the  rowel,  this  case  is  easily  and  prettily  disposed  of  by  using  this 
consonant  to  cut  off  the  rowel  from  the  other,  as     C  near,  f\ 
writ;  M  ,  cross;  /\f~ *  suffer-     When  there  is  no  other  conso- 
nant to  make  the  separation,  the  vowel  is  written  detached,  No.  167, 
or  by  a  dot. 

163.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that,  theoretically,  all  the  crooked 
rowels,  except  oi  and  on,  will  join  without  forming  angles  only  to 
such  ends  of  consonants  as  are  either  perpendicular  or  horizontal, 
"I*    P-  e_,  «-.  I-  V=,,cy-     A  rowel  thus  joining  a  conso- 
nant without  an  angle  is  called  a  hook;  and  as  it  is  easier  to  write 
a  consonant  and  hook  than  to  write  the  two  letters  with  an  angle 
between  them,  it  is  desirable  to  make  aa  many  of  the  circular  roweb 


60  LATERAL  INSERTION  OF  VOWELS. 

hooks  as  we  can ;  also  to  have  a  rule  for  ascertaining  the  particular 
vowel  intended  by  a  hook  in  case  of  doubt.  Wherefore  we  make 
these  rules  in  regard  to  consonants  having  oblique  endings : 

1st.  Hooks  on  straight  consonants,  standing  obliquely,  are  sup- 
posed to  bend  inwards  a  little,  so  as  to  make  more  than  a  half 
circle,  as  N^.,  fan;  \^_,  fine;  /L_,  sign;  ff  9  race;  ^,  rays, 
or  raise. 

2d.  Hooks  being  put  on  the  concave  side  of  circular  consonants 
ending  obliquely,  are  supposed  to  make  less  than  a  semicircle,  as 
£_,  cone;  ^f\,  lamb;  ^^  ,  lime. 

We  are  by  no  means  constrained  to  use  these  rules ;  for  we  can 
write  either  ^  or  -'">  for  might, — -/  or  ^7  for  news. 

164.  Restrictions. — Long  hooks  will  be  used  to  represent  r,  1, 
and  -nt,  under  certain  conditions,  (Nos.  230,  234-5-6-7,)  and  to 
avoid  clashing  between  them  and  the  oxbows  I,  u  and  oo  when  hooks, 

observe,  that  except  G ?  written  for  yun,  (as  in  ^—j,  unit,)  and   V 

yus,  (as  in  the  word  use,)  no  words  are  to  commence  with  a  long 
hooked  vowel.     The  few  words  which  might  thus  commence,  are 
easily  written  some  other  way.     In  regard  to  words  ending  with 
long  hooks  see  forward,  No.  231. 

165.  The  writing  a  knob  on  a  vowel  shows  it  to  be  a  nasal  sound, 
Example,   J,  pin,  [French];  J   or  J  dent,  or  dans;  Jt  dont; 
^   aucun.     In  writing  French  it  will  probably  be  sufficient  to 
signify  the  nasals,  by  simply  swelling  the  simple  vowels.     The 
French  u  is  this  figure  ^  or  ^,  and  eu  is  ^. 

166.  In  case  a  break  is  made  in  a  word  to  prevent  the  last  part 
of  it  going  too  far  above  or  below  the  line,  the  parts  must  be  con- 
nected by  a  double  hyphen,  as  >B_c.  confute. 

LATERAL  INSERTION  OF  VOWELS. 

167.  Generally  it  is  easier,  (more  quickly  done,)  to  write  a  word 
connectedly,  according  to  the  foregoing  directions,  than  to  separate 
the  letters.     But  sometimes  the  joining  is  not  convenient,  or  the 
appearance  is  awkward,  or  the  exact  figure  or  swelling  of  the  vowel 
cannot  be  well  shown ;  or  the  writing  may  be  done  in  a  hurry  and 
the  vowel  omitted  at  the  time,  to  be  supplied  afterwards.     In  such 
cases,  or  wherever  desired,  the  vowel  may  be  written  separately, 


LATERAL  INSERTION  OF  VOWELS.  61 

and  it  is  then  called  a  detached  vowel;  but  the  consonants  or  other 
parts  of  the  word  must  be  joined. 

168.  If  the  vowel  precedes  the  consonant,  it  is  written  before  it: 
that  is,  near  it,  on  the  left  hand  side,  if  perpendicular  or  oblique, 
or  if  horizontal,  under  it,  as  u/^"~,  oar  ;  —  ,  own.     If  it  comes  after 
the  consonant,  it  is  written  on  the  other  side,  as  ^~,  row  ;    v  ,  no. 
The  vowel  coming  between  two  consonants  is  either  written  after  the 
first,  as     N,  fate,  or  before  the  last,  as  \   fate  ;  or  somewhere 

between  the  two,  as  W,  pass.  If  two  vowels  come  between  two 
consonants,  each  vowel  is  written  closely  beside  the  consonant  it  is 
next  to,  as  /£"""",  ruin. 

169.  The  fourth  sound  is  written  like  a  diminutive  r,  (thus  r,) 
while  the  sixth  sound  is  like  a  small  g,  (thus  ^  .)     If  this  sound  is 
long,  the  upper  part  is  swelled,  as  ~>f^N>  balm.     The  mark  for  the 
fifth  sound  when  long  is  also  swelled  at  top,  as  ^^"~j  fair.     The 
first  part  of  the  o  may  be  swelled,  but  no  harm  if  it  is  not.     To 
designate  the  unaccented  o  and  the  stopt  o,  (No.  47,)  let  the  right 
hand  limb  be  swelled.     This  can  easily  be  done  by  commencing  the 
letter  on  the  right  hand  side,  and  writing  it  backhanded,  as  <\^y 
whole  ;    C\V^?  hole.     In  the  same  way  distinguish,  when  necessary, 
the  two  lengths  of    the  tenth  sound,  as    UJ    ,  fool  ;    \ll    ,  full. 
There  are  comparatively  but  few  words  where  it  will  be  necessary  to 
show  a  vowel,  (whether  detached  or  not,)  to  be  long  by  swelling  it. 

170.  The  oxbows  for  oi,  ou  and  oo,  are  substituted  by  a  cuspis, 
(spear  point,)  in  the  direction  '  for  oi,  ^  for  ou,  and  T  for  oo  ;  as 
V,oil;  ^,boy;  \  out;  N^,fool;  \y,  full. 


SECOND  METHOD  OF  INDICATING  VOWELS. 

171.  That  end  of  a  consonant  which  is  first  written,  is  called  the 
head  ;  even  if,  as  may  appear  by  the  connection,  it  is  written  the 
reverse  of  the  usual  manner,  as  a  |  struck  upward,  still  the  end 
first  written  is  the  head  of  the  letter  ;  and  the  other  end  is  called 
the  foot.     The  left  hand  side,  or  if  horizontal,  the  underside,  is 
called  the  for,eside  ;  the  other,  the  hind  side. 

172.  A  dotted  vowel  is  said  to  be  written  on  a  consonant,  or  on 
the  side  of  it,  when  the  dot  made  for  the  vowel  is  written  close  up 
to,  but  not  touching  the  side  of  the  consonant.     The  consonants 


62  NOTATION   OF   THE    DOTTED   VOWELS. 

of  a  word,  (sometimes  called  the  skeleton,)  are  first  to  be  written, 
joined  together,  and  the  vowels  are  then  dotted  out  on  them. 

173.  There  are  reckoned  five  vowels  places  on  each  side  of  a 
consonant.     The  first,  (or  e's  place,)  is  even  with  the  head  of  the 
consonant,  as  *J;    the   second,  (a's  place,)  half  way  between  the 
head  and  the  middle,  as  *]  ;  the  third,  (I's  place,)  at  the  middle 
as   •) ;  the  fourth,  (o's  place,)  half  way  between  the  middle  and 
foot,  as    I  ;  and  the  fifth,  (u's  place,)  even  with  the  foot,  as    | ;  or, 
they  may  be  called  the  vowels'  first,  second,  third,  fourth  and  fifth 
places. 

174.  A  large  dot  always  represents  a  long  sound ;  a  small  dot  a 
short  sound.     A  vowel  coming  before  a  consonant  is  written  on  the 
fore  side  of  it ;  coming  after,  it  is  written  on  the  hind  side ;  coming 
between  two,  it  may  be  written  on  either,  as  is  most  convenient. 
When  two  vowels  come  between  two  consonants,  each  is  written  on 
the  consonant  next  to  it ;  or,  if  one  only  of  the  vowels  is  dotted, 
that  one  is  read  next  to  the  consonant  it  is  written  on ;  and  when 
two  vowels  are  to  be  expressed  on  one  side  of  a  consonant,  the  dot 
for  the  vowel  next  the  consonant  is  placed  the  closest  to  it ;  or  the 
sound  next  the  consonant  is  written  by  a  dot,  and  the  other  by  a 
vowel. 

175.  Accent  is  expressed  by  a  small  dot,  placed  on  that  side  of 
the  vowel  dot  which  is  opposite  to  the  consonant.     See  examples 
in  notation  of  sound  3  short,  and  sound  5  short.     An  accent  dot 
is  placed  only  against  a  vowel,  or  vowel  dot.     See  latter  part  of 
No  155. 

NOTATION  OF  THE  DOTTED  VOWELS. 

176.  Sound  1  long  is  written  by  a  large  dot  in  the  e's  place,  as 
•J,  eat ;   |*,  tea;  <F    ,  we. 

177.  Sound  1st  short,  and  sound  2d  short,  are  written  by  a 
small  dot  in  the  e's  place,  as  the  first  e  in  /f£~|,  secrete ;   ]  ,  it ; 
}      or  ") .  pin. 

178.  Sound  3  long  is  written  by  a  large  dot  in  the  a's  place,  as 
•[ ,  ate  or  eight ;  <^    ,  way  or  weigh. 

179.  Sound  3  short  and  sound  4  short  are  written  by  a  small 
dot  in  the  a's  place,  as  >_>£""""j  marine ;  y^_J,  amend ;  ")'    ,  pen. 

180.  The  dipthong  I  is  written  by  a  large  dot  in  the  i's  place,  as 
•/,  ice ;  V*AV  life. 


NOTATION   OF   THE   DOTTED   VOWELS.  63 

181.  Sound  5  short  is  written  by  a  small  dot  in  the  i's  place,  as 
.j,  at;  ~(/-\,  decent;  .(£-],  accent. 

182.  Sound  5  long  cannot  be  written  by  a  dot,  so  as  to  discrim- 
inate it  from  the  short  sound,  but  it  must  be  made  in  one  of  the 
ways  pointed  out  in  the  1st  method.     No  ambiguity,  however,  can 
arise  by  employing  the  small  dot.     Fare  shortened  up  does  not 
become  far.     Ask,  fast,  pant,  &c.,  spoken  quickly,  are  still  the 
same  words. 

183.  Sound  6  long  and  short,  and  sound  7  long,  are  to  be  written 
by  the  first  method. 

184.  Sound  7  short  is  written  by  a  small  dot  in  the  o's  place,  as 
,  on ;  ^-^j,  lot. 

185.  Sound  8  long  and  short  are  written  by  a  small  dot  in  the 
u's  place,  as  \f* ,  fur ;   X  ,  sun. 

186.  Sound  9  long  is  written  by  a  large  dot  in  the  o's  place,  as 
(%  oak ;    V    ,  go.     This  sound,  unaccented,  may  be  expressed  in 

the  same  way ;  but  to  be  precise,  see  No.  169. 

187.  Dipthong  u   is  written  by  a  long  dot  in  the  u's  place,  as 
,  tube. 


Sounds  10  long  and  short,  and  dipthongs  oi  and  ou,  cannot  be 
described  by  dots. 

188.  When,  from  the  interference  of  letters,  we  cannot  place  a 
dot  just  where  we  would  on  one  consonant,  we  can  frequently  do 
it  on  another.     In  writing  four  we  have  not  room  to  place  the  dot 
in  the  proper  place  on  the  f,  and  so  we  put  it  on  the  r,  thus  \f". 
A  dot  must  never  be  used  where  a  vowel's  place  cannot  be  plainly 
shown  by  it.     Hence  it  must  not  be  put  in  or  near  an  angle  where 
it  can   be   read   to  either  of  the  two   consonants  it  is  between, 
unless  it  makes  the  same  letter  on  either,  (as  \f~)-     Nor  must  it 
be  put  near  where  two  letters  run  together.     Thus  it  cannot  be 
told  whether  ~\f —  is  meant  for  born  or  burn.    A  detached  vowel, 
instead  of  the  dot,  makes  any  such  case  plain.     The  vowel  is  but 
little  harder  to  write  than  the  dot ;  it  requires  no  exactness  as  to 
its  situation  on  the  consonant,  and  its  sound  can  be  read  inde- 
pendently of  it. 

189.  Detached  and  dotted  vowels  written  before  the  combina- 
tions for  pr,  dr  and  dc,  No.  132,  are  read  first,  or  before  either  of 


64  NOTATION  OF   THE    DOTTED   VOWELS. 

the  letters ;  when  written  after  they  are  read  last ;  written  over  pr 
and  dr,  and  under  dc,  they  are  read  between  the  letters,  as  ~^~ 
upper ;  -^* ,  pure  ;  J|^,  dike. 

190.  Several  vowels  and  dots  are  used  for  words,  as  will  be 
shown  in  the  Table,  No.  220.     Any  vowel  sound  which  is  to  be 
noted  separate  from  consonants,  can  be  expressed  by  marking  the 
vowel  on  the  foreside  of  a  solid  headed  h,  (1,)  as  Jj ,  oh,  or  owe ; 
1 ,  awe.     Capital  and  abbreviation  dots,    (No.    136,)   are    put   to 

the  h  •  thuj  A.  will  be  n| 

OTHER  MODES  OF  INDICATING  VOWELS. 

191.  A  vowel  which  would  be  expressed  by  a  small  dot,  occurring 
between  two  consonants,  may  be  denoted  by  commencing  the  con- 
sonant succeeding  it  in  its  place,  as  I     ,  tin;  J — ,  ten;   | — ,  tan; 
[__,  tun  ;  ~^J,  bud. 

192.  A  large  dot,  coming  between  consonants,  may  be  written 
in  its  proper  place  on  the  preceding  consonant,  and  have  the  suc- 
ceeding one  projected  from  the  dot,  as  |<— s,  time;    Q  ,  keep. 

193.  The  large  dot  will  appear  to  be  a  head  to  the  letter  joining 
it.     The  head  and  stroke  of  a  descending  letter,  (and  of  a  horizon- 
tal one  by  turning  the  pen  in  the  fingers  a  little,)  may  be  made  by 
the  same  effort.     But  the  head  of  an  ascending  letter  can  only  be 
swelled  by  a  distinct  effort.    Thus,  if  the  word  four  is  to  be  written 
by  this  rule,  the  \    is  first  written,  then  a  large  dot  in  the  o's 
place ;  and  lastly,  without  taking  off  the  pen,  the  (~  is  projected 
from  the  dot,  (which  then  becomes  a  head,)  thus  \C .     If  the  suc- 
ceeding letter  is  looped,  the  large  dot  is  indicated  by  a  swell  on 
the  back  of  the  loop. 

194.  In  expressing  a  vowel,  according  to  the  last  two  rules,  it 
is  desirable  that  the  head  of  the  indicating  consonant  should  not 
necessarily  be  more  than  half  a  letter's  length  off  from  the  vowel's 
proper  place,  and  should  either  be  on  a  level  with  it,  as   jf    take, 
or  perpendicular  to  it,  as  ^=^,  mean.     There  are  some  cases  where 
the  indicating  head  cannot  be  brought  up  so  close,  and  where  too 
it  would  be  desirable  to  avoid  going  so  far  below  the  line  as  would 
be  done  by  joining  the  consonants  and  dotting  the  vowel.    In  such 
cases  the  vowel  is  best  determined  by  the  position  which  the  fol- 
lowing consonant  holds  with  respect  to  the  foot  of  the  preceding 


NOTATION   OF   THE   DOTTED   VOWELS.  65 

one.  If  the  feet  of  the  two  consonants  come  together,  it  is  a  first 
place  vowel ;  the  head  of  the  indicating  consonant  being  swelled 
shows  it  to  be  long,  not  swelled,  short,  as  \J,  feet;  "^L^j  betray. 
The  indicating  consonant  being  lowered  a  fourth  part  of  its  length 
marks  a  vowel  of  the  second  place,  as  \T  ,  fate ;  lowered  half  its 
length,  a  vowel  of  the  third  place,  \»,  fight.  Still  lower,  a  fourth 

place  vowel,  as  ^H,  got;  and  when  the  head  of  the  indicating  con- 
sonant is  even  with  the  foot  of  the  other,  a  fifth  place  vowel  is 
marked,  as  shown  in  No.  191. 

195.  When  two  vowels  come  together  between  consonants,  the 
first  may  be  dotted,  and  the  last  made  by  the  next  consonant,  as 
f~*  ,  ruin.     Or  show  the  first  by  commencing  the  next  consonant 
in  its  place,  and  the  other  by  writing  or  dotting  it  on  the  foreside 
of  that  consonant,  as  ^r — ,  ruin.     Or  write  the  first  vowel  by  the 
first  method,  and  show  the  other  by  the  head  of  the  next  con- 
sonant, as  (^ ,  ruin.     Still  other  ways  are  shown  in  other  places. 
A  detached  or  dotted  vowel,  written  on  a  consonant,  is  always  to 
be  read  next  to  it,  although  it  comes  between  the  consonant  and 
a  vowel  that  is  made  to  join  it,  as  (y ,  chaos,  or  fy,  chaos. 

196.  Any  word  or  writing  can  be  done  by  means  of  the  first 
method  alone,  and,  with  a  few  exceptions,  it  can  be  done  by  the 
second  method  alone.     It  is  not  intended  that  a  writer  shall  in  any 
case  confine  himself  to  either  of  them ;  but  that  he  shall  choose  the 
best  way  of  writing  each  word  as  it  shall  occur ;  having  reference 
to  clearness,  to  lineality,  to  the  beauty  of  the  writing,  and  to  the 
time  he  can  spare  for  it. 

197.  It  is  certainly  easier,  in  most  cases,  to  join  in  a  vowel 
where  it  occurs  in  a  word  than  to  lift  the  pen  and  write  a  detached 
vowel,  or  a  dot  for  it  afterwards.     But  it  will  often  happen  that 
from  carelessness,  from  a  bad  pen,  or  a  dull  pencil,  these  little 
marks  will  be  blurred,  or  will  not  be  formed  with  precision,  or  will 
come  in  an  awkward  place  to  join,  or  being  straight  marks,  unde- 
tached  and  not  written  backhanded,  they  can  only  be  distinguished 
from  consonants  by  their  lengths,  thereby  requiring  care  in  this 
respect,  in  writing  both  the  vowels  and  consonants.     Hence  it  is 
frequently  preferable,  if  not  necessary,  to  write  vowels  detached, 
or  by  dots. 

5 


66 

BRIEF  CONSONANTS 

198.  Table  of  Brief  Consonants,  with  the  Roman  printing  let- 
ters answering  to  them  annexed.  (For  the  powers  of  these  letters 
see  Table  No.  86,  with  the  explanations  following  it.  See  also 
Plate  No.  1.) 

)      p  |t  (     k  <<     he 


p 

1  t 

(  k 

J}  a 

L   g 

m 

n 

o     ng 

ph 

f    th 

/"    ch 

vh 

£    dh 

/•    gh 

w 

/</  y 

f 

/    B 

//°    sh 

V 

x^    z 

<T    zh 

C    * 

\      f  /      S  //°      Sh  ^7      hi 

\    v  s^    z  <r       zh  *^/    1 

199.  Besides  the   above,  which  are  all   single   consonants,  we 
have  five  double  ones,  namely  : 

o__     or     o—     ch,  as  in  chip, 

o_^>     or     <T^    j,  as  in  yet, 

°\      wh,  (  or  hw,)  as  in  why, 
(/      x,  or  ex  at  the  beginnings  of  words,  and 
C     qu  (  or  kw,)  as  in  quit  ;  and  gu  as  in  an^wish. 

200.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  brief  letters  v,  z  and  zh,  have 
no  crooked  arm  at  the  top,  as  the  short  letters  have,  but  are  distin- 
guished from  their  atonies  simply  by  a  more  horizontal  leaning. 
An  additional  character  for  z  is  the  half  length  stroke.     This  is 
particularly  useful  at  the  ends  of  plural  nouns  and  singular  verbs. 
The  y,  sh,  ch  and  j,  have  each  two  forms  on  account  of  facilities 
for  joining  with  preceding  letters  ;  thus,  dch  requires  the  first  and 
tch  the  second  form  of  the  ch.     The  x  is  a  variation  of  the  letters 
cs  made  half  size,  the  figure  being  about  the  size  and  shape  of  an 
oxbow  vowel.     S  preceding  an  x  must  be  written  upwards,  as  /^ 
six  ;  following  it,  downwards,  as  A,  taxes.     The  qu  is  a  half  circle 
whose  diameter  is  half  the  length  of  the  letter  (". 

201.  To  keep  in  line,  d  is  written  by  its  second  form  [  J,]  down- 
wards, as  (*J  read  ;  and  for  the  same  reason  the  |  is  sometimes 
written  upwards,  as  (J~l  ,  content.     When  t  succeeds  t  or  p,  it 
may   be   substituted  by  the   first   or   second   form   of  d   struck 


BRIEF    CONSONANTS.  67 

upwards,  as  in  the  word  /^/\J\  substitute.  C,  p  and  th  may  be 
written  upwards,  and  even  lean  a  little  to  the  right  by  marking  a 
cross  on  them,  as  \f£-N>  victim.  As  c  and  p  are  never  to  be  writ- 
ten upwards  without  the  cross,  r  and  d  may  be  safely  put  in  their 
position,  or  nearly  so,  the  r  to  make  a  better  angle  with  a  follow- 
ing p,  and  the  d  to  show  it  to  be  put  for  t. 

202.  The  /   and  /  are  always  taken  to  be  written  downwards 
and   (~  upwards,  when  it  is  not  shown  by  their  connection  that 
they  go  the  other  way.     Thus,  /*  is  see  and  not  sue.     In  joining 
an  o  to  an  s  thus  unconnected,  a  first  method  vowel  must  be  sup- 
plied, to  prevent  the  word  from  being  mistaken  for  a  looped  letter 
written  the  other  way. 

203.  The  letter  ng  is  usually  expressed  by  its  proper  character, 
the  small  circle,  (o.)     There  are  half  a  dozen  or  more  words,  with 
their  derivations,  which,  when  properly  spelt,  have  ng  for  their 
first  consonant ;  as  ink  is  not  pronounced  in-k,  but  ing-k ;  angle 
is  not  an-gle,  but  ang-gle,  the  n,  when  followed  by  the  sound  of  k 
or  g,  being  changed  into  ng.     And  as  the  o  does  not  admit  of 
having  dotted  vowels  written  to  it,  these  cases  are  managed  by 
writing  a  first  method  vowel  on  the  foreside  of  the  O,  and  annex- 
ing the  next  consonant  to  the  hind  side,  thus  ^(  ink.     Such  words 
will  be  plain  enough,  though  not  spelt  right,  if  written  with  an  — , 
as  *~\  ink. 

204.  As  the  little  circle  forming  the  loop  of  a  letter,  and  the 
ng  are  the  same  figure,  it  will  be  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  that 
every  looped  letter  always  commences  with  the  loop.  The  pen  com- 
mences to  form  the  loop  at  that  point  where  it  makes  an  angle 
with  the  stem;  and  the  stem  is  started  tangentially  from  that  por- 
tion of  the  loop  which  is  last  written.     When  the  small  circle  is  in 
any  other  position  it  is  known  to  be  ng ;  as  when  the  pen  is  turned 
back  in  writing  the  next  consonant,  as  in  (/\._     Kingston.     Here 
the  figure  of  £   is  shown,  but  it  is  known  not  to  be  sh,  because  to 
write  it  according  to  the  above  direction  we  must  join  it  to  the 
preceding  letter,  thus,    ^   or  thus      L .    Whether  necessary  or 
not,  a    consonant  succeeding  ng    can  '        be    commenced    in     a 
straight  direction  from  the  center  of  the  o,  thus  C/1    . 

205.  The  O  stands  for  ing  when  turned  on  the  hind  side  of  the 
straight  stemmed  letters ;  or  the  inside  of  the  curve  of  the  circu- 


68  BRIEF   CONSONANTS. 

lars,  and  no  vo'.vel  written,  as  A  sting,  "Y°  bring;  also  after  a 
long  vowel,  as  /£,  or  /I  staying.  When  any  other  vowel  than 
the  short  I  precedes  the  ng,  it  must  be  written  by  a  vowel  letter, 
as  in  examples  to  No.  156,  or  by  a  dot.  The  o  unattached  is  ing 
together  with  the  vowel  indicated  by  its  location,  as  /^  saying. 
(A  plainer  way  has  been  taught,  No.  156.)  The  z,  (short  / )  may 
be  added  tangentially  to  an  ing  at  the  end  of  words,  as  £>  Kings. 
Two  ings  can  be  written  together,  as  \^  bringing. 

206.  A  C  full  size>  can  be  added  to  o  only  where  the  pen  is 
turned  back,  (No.  204,)  as      /P  drink.     An  easy  way  of  writing 
nk  is  to  make  the  circle,  and  then  continue  the  pen  round  a 
little  outside  of  it,  as  if  commencing  a  spiral,  thus  forming  a  small 
C,  either  upwards  or  downwards  as  the  case  may  require  :  the  short 
I  is  understood,  as  in  No.  205,  when  another  vowel  is  not  written, 
as   |    think,  ~\.^   blank,    (^"^  wrinkle.     Also  when  g  succeeds 
the  sound  of  ng,  let  it  be  written  by  a  spiral  downwards  in  the 
position  of  V^  ,  as  ^s^C  linger. 

207.  Instead  of  looped  or  open  headed  letters,  solid  heads  are 
allowable  when  there  is  no  joining  to  preceding  letters,  as  1  for  % 

t for  o They  are  written,  (like  crotchet-heads  in  music,)  at 

once  by  a  sudden  bearing  down  of  the  pen,  which,  after  a  little 
practice,  is  performed  quicker  than  by  carrying  the  pen  round  in 
a  circle.     In  joining  to  a  preceding  consonant  it  is  always  better 
to  make  the  loop,  as  the  whole  is  done  with  about  as  much  ease 
with  the  loop  as  without  it.     For  instance,  this  mark  — f  can  be 
made  nearly  as  quick  as  this       ].    If,  however,  the  loop  should  be 
blurred  into  a  solid  head  no  harm  is  done. 

208.  As  the  looped  letters  are  not  formed  so  readily  as  the  sim- 
ple ones,  there  will  be  an  advantage  in  substituting  small  detached 
angles  for  them  in  certain  conditions.     The  mark  >  is  the  substi- 
tute for  h,  >   for  y,  v   for  wh,  ^  for  w,  *   for  ch,  <  for  j,  A  for 
th,  and  ^  for  dh.     The  necessary  conditions  are,  that  there  must 
be  a  vowel  which  may  be  written  by  a  dot  intervening  between  the 
letter  to  be  substituted  and  another  consonant,  so  that  the  substi- 
tute can  be  written  against  the  consonant  in  the  vowel's  place,  and 
thus  mark  the  vowel  too.     The  part  of  the  substitute  nearest  the 
consonant  will  show  the  precise  place  where  the   dot  would  be. 
The  long  sound  is  indicated  by  swelling  one  side  of  the  substitute. 


BRIEF  CONSONANTS.  69 

EXAMPLES. 

*]    heat,  *|     hit,  *\     hate,  *|     hight, 

vj     wit,  v|     wheat,         v|      whit,  y]^   white, 

?|     yet,  *)    cheap,        |*     teeth,         ~~r\f'  nature. 

As  an  angle  is  always  placed  so  as  to  indicate  a  vowel  or  a  con- 
sonant, it  can  thereby  be  told  from  a  double  vowel. 

209.  If  a  letter  comes  after  a  substitute,  it  is  either  joined  to 
it  or  to  the  preceding  consonant,  as  /£/    or  (£   riches.     The  > 
will  do  for  ia  at  the  end  of  words,  as  ^_^-J>   Lydia. 

210.  The  gain  in  speed  by  employing  substitutes  is   in   their 
indicating  by  their  position  the  vowels  next  them.     Their  use  will 
serve  to  keep  in  line  such  words  as  hope,  both,  thought,  woful. 

211.  When  the  short  I  is  followed  by  another  vowel,  the  two 
making  a  diphthong,  with  the  accent  on  a  preceding  sound,  the  i 
becomes  practically  a  y,  and  is  written  by  one,  or  by  its  substitute, 
as  l^V^"^  or  P>4xj  trivial. 

212.  The  sound  following  y  being  obscure,  it  will  not  generally 
be  necessary  to  notice  it ;  and  the  y  can  be  written  in  with  the 
skeleton  of  the  word,  as  in  the  first  trivial  above.     The  exact 
sound,  however,  must  be  written  in  words  which  are  uncommon, 
and  words  which  are  similar  to  others  in  sound,  as   (j*f    carious, 
\£j[   caries. 

213.  The  unaccented  yu  in  words  ending  in  ual  and  uous  is 

easiest  written  by    \  or  its  substitute,  as  /"  X  ^  or  /  A"^  sen- 
sual. 

ON  KEEPING  IN  LINE. 

214.  The  faint  lines,  if  the  paper  is  ruled,  are  the  bottom  lines 
of  the  writing,  as  in  short  writing.     The  sixth  of  an  inch,  or  a 
little  less  above  these,  are  the  imaginary  top  lines  of  the  writing. 
To  maintain  a  good  appearance  it  is  desirable  to  keep  within  these 
bounds  as  much   as  possible.     But  in  brief  writing  we   can  not 
always  do  so.     There  are  many  words,  whereof  some  of  the  letters 
by  their  connection  will  be  forced  over  the  lines.     Many  conso- 
nants must  transgress  the  half  or  the  whole  of  their  length,  and 
there  may  be  words,  ( I  do  not  know  that  there  are  any  such,) 
where  it  will  be  necessary  to  go  two  lengths.     If  all  the  conso- 
nants of  the  word  disordered  are  stretched  upwards,  the  last  one 
will  be  five  lengths  above  the  upper  line.    Predecessors  can  also  be 
drawn  out  five  lengths,  and  disregarded  four  lengths.     Captivate 


70  ON   KEEPING  IN   LINE. 

will  go  four  lengths  below  the  lower  line.  These  words  are  proba- 
bly as  difficult  to  write  as  any  that  can  be  found,  but  they  can  be 
folded  in  so  as  to  look  passably  well,  thus, 


215.  The  first  consonant  of  every  word  must  always  be  within 
the  lines  ;  and  if  it  is  horizontal  it  must  be  written  at  the  top  or 
bottom,  as  will  best  suit  the  succeeding  parts  of  the  word.     Thus, 
n  in     j3  will  be  on  the  top  line,  and  in  .    J     on  the  bottom  one. 

216.  Letters  may  occasionally  be  curtailed  in  length  to  help 
the  appearance,  as  dr  in  (    //",  and  rd  in      Jr  •     He  who  wishes 
his  writing  to  look  well,  will  take  pains  to  make  it  as  straight  and 
compact  as  is  consistent  with  perfect  legibility  and  plainness.    The 
instructions  which  have  been,  and  will  be  given,  will  be  found  to 
afford  a  great  variety  of  ways  for  writing  words.     They  should  be 
well  studied  and  attended  to  in  selecting  the  best  ways  —  the  plain- 
est and  most  lineal  ways  —  of  writing  words,  until  the  habit  of 
writing   them  is  formed;  and  then  these  best  ways  will  suggest 
themselves  to  be  used  as  a  matter  of  course. 

217.  The  foregoing  is  Breviscription  free  from  all  contractions 
and  arbitrary  marks.     It  establishes  methods  whereby  the  exact 
sound  of  every  word  in  our  language  can  be  plainly  shown.     The 
scholar  should  practice  a  while  before  proceeding  further,  by  writ- 
ing sentences  from  a  newspaper  or  book,  and  inserting  all   the 
vowels  in  each  word,  even  those  that  are  short  and  obscure,  with 
the  accent,  punctuation,  etc.;  for  although  this  minuteness  need 
not  be  attended  to  in  ordinary  writing,  yet  it  will  often  be  neces- 
sary in  some  words,  especially  if  in  a  foreign  language. 

RECORDING  STAGE.—  LETTERS   STANDING  FOR  WORDS. 

218.  There  are  many  little  words  which,  from  their  frequent 
occurrence,  it   is  very  convenient   to   have   some   easy   way   of 
expressing.     This  is  done  by  having  a  single  letter  or  mark,  when 
alone,  represent  a  whole  word.    Such  a  letter  is  called  a  logogram, 
or  word  letter. 

219.  A  letter  may  be  written  full  sized,  and  half  size  ;  and  in 
the  latter  case  it  can  be  put  at  the  top  or  bottom  line  of  writing  ; 
and  if  horizontal,  it  can  be  placed  full  size  and  half  size  at  the 
top,  middle,  and  bottom,  and   have  each  of  these  variations  of 
size  and  position  signify  a  different  word.     By  these  means  and 
by  the  substitutes,  No.  208,  we  are  enabled  to  express  upwards  of 
sixty  words  by  single  characters. 


RECORDING   STAGE.  71 

220.  The  following  table  may  be  considered  as  an  arbitrary 
application  of  particular  letters,  considered  both  as  to  size  and 
their  place  on  the  line,  to  signify  the  words  next  to  them.  The 
bottom  line  of  the  words  in  print  will  show  whether  the  short 
hand  letters  are  on  or  above  the  line. 


a,  an, 

^j,     among, 

J      had, 

^-  God, 

,    period, 

/_/"  Mr-> 

in, 

^   got, 

=>    I,  eye, 

^  himself, 

-      an, 

U_  again, 

e    you, 
f     the,  thee, 

^^   themselves 

_      on, 

{J  good, 

^ 

not, 

^\    o          > 

v    how,  thou, 

W\J, 

with 

no, 

o    thing, 

up, 
~$~  perhaps, 
^   be, 

d     without, 
ir    within, 
\    would, 

A-     any, 
_  /or.  and, 

_y  &c., 

>  ye, 
<T  your, 

")     but, 
^    bcliisT 

\J     was, 
^    were, 

-1     into, 
v  __    under, 

<f  she, 
/°  shall, 

~\_  been, 
\    above, 

V     why, 

y     what, 

n      they, 
f,      that, 

^  should, 
>    he, 

\                          * 

"^  below, 

\     if, 

^      is  his, 

s,  who, 

*\    before, 

\     of, 

x      as, 

/i 

*)    has, 

•?    behind, 

\  have, 

so, 

vj^  however, 

]__  between, 

V   for, 

^     said, 
S    us' 

f  are, 

\j  beyond, 

\      fWV 

j/     this, 

r  or, 

]     about, 

V    ever, 

7     these, 

^"   her, 
w   will, 

him, 

^    after, 

y     those, 

^-x  all, 

^    am, 

1      it, 

P      through, 

^    them, 

1      at, 

k      thef«' 

vj)  along, 

'"^  me, 

to, 

(]      could, 

o  —  each, 

^  may> 

[_    together, 

C     according, 

o__  church, 

^  my, 

J    do, 

c~~    can, 

<    which, 

n  mignt, 

J   did, 

'H     cannot, 

<T>*  judge, 

^~v_  many, 

does, 

C      question, 

^.    except. 

72  SUNDRY    CONTRACTIONS. 


SUNDRY  CONTRACTIONS. 

221.  Many  obscure  and  unaccented  vowels  which  do  not  begin 
or  end  words,  may  be  omitted  without  the  least  detriment  to  the 
legibility,  as  J\^,  or  J\f",  difr,  (differ.)     J\C  dfur,  (defer.) 
It  is  generally  safe  to  omit  such  as  must  be  spoken;  for  example, 
the  Italic  letters  in  retain,  defect,  conclude,  mountain,  parent,  ma- 
jority.    Where  the  rest  of  the  word  can  be  spoken  without  it, 
and  especially  if  by  suppressing  it  another  word  is  made,  it  must 
be  written ;  as  the  vowel  between  n  and  1  in  finally,  which,  if  omit- 
ted, would  make  finely,  and  the  u  in  support. 

222.  A  short  vowel  beginning  a  word,  is  shown  by  writing  the 
first  consonant  half  length ;  as  ~\_J  intend,  }/""  appear. 

223.  The  short  y  at  the  end  of  words,  is  shown  by  writing  the 
last   consonant  half  length;   as    / f  scenery,  J^  duly,  \(j> 
Friday,  /f    city. 

These  half  length  letters  will  admit  a  short  /  after  them  for  the 
plural,  as  _/•  ^  insanities. 

224.  A  slight  distinction  might  be  made  in  the  leaning  between 
the  short  z  and  half  length  s,  (cy,)  of  the  above  rule,  as  \~r 
fans,  \~7  fancy ;  but  it  is  better  to  write  the  cy  in  full.     'Cies 
can  be  written  with  two  short  s'es,  and  \~^  fancies. 

It  is  of  importance  to  have  an  easy  and  obvious  distinction 
between  s  and  z,  and  this  is  effected  much  more  readily  and  cer- 
tainly by  writing  the  z  half  length  than  by  its  leaning. 

225.  The  half  of  any  quarter  circle  letter,  except  ^_s  and  ^-^ 
may  be  left  off,  when  by  doing  so  it  will  run  into  another  letter,  or 
have  another  letter  run  into  it  without  forming  an  angle,  as  X/^ , 
form.     Here,  by  leaving  off  the  last  part  of  the  r  we  make  it  run 
into  the  m,  and  thus  save  an  angle.     Other  examples,  \^J  filled 
•S\^  advised,  V_£~~^  gleam,  '"^ {^)  mingled. 

226.  If  vowels  come  before  or  after  letters  connected  by  h.  >- 
ing,  write  them  by  first  method  vowels  either  joined  or  detached, 
or  by  dots  on  the  consonants  before  or  after.     Vowel  sounds  com- 
ing between  such  letters,  are  written  plainest  by  detached  vowels 
placed  near  the  head  of  the  first,  or  foot  of  the  last.     But  when 
such  vowels  are  expressed  by  dots,  the  first  three  places  on  the 


SUNDRY    CONTRACTIONS.  73 

combined  character,  belong  to  the  first,  and  the  last  two  to  the 
last  letter.  Examples :  f\  wrist,  {\  rest,  f\  roast,  l^  guile, 
\^f  goal,  ^  glow.  The  vowel  is  always  taken  to  be  on  the  last 
letter,  when  it  is  indicated  by  the  head  of  a  succeeding  conso- 
nant, as,  /S=^V~  remember. 

227.  In  a  few  combinations  a  little  deviation  from  the  natural 
position  of  a  half  letter  is  advisable,  that  the  compound  character 
may  not  so  easily  be  mistaken  for  a  single  letter.     Rs  is  made 
thus  f  ,  ds  thus  ^/j  ct  (" ,  sd   /.     As  the  combinations  for  ds 
and  rs  will  be  much  used,  it  is  well  to  state  that  the  sound  c  ( ar,) 
does  not  come  before  s  in  English ;  hence  no  harm  can  arise  from 
writing  ds  a  little  hooked,  thus  </ ;  and  as  there  are   but   few 
words  in  which  6s  occurs  where  these  letters  can  be  written  ^ ,  it 
is  better  always  to  write  them  thus  Si  and  a  hooked  rs  thus  </ 
will  then  be  plain.     Dz  and  rz  ending  words  are  written  as   in 
\f^  words,  and  X_^  pillars. 

228.  A  d  may  be  added  to  d  by  continuing  the  circle  further 
round,  as  .__)  ended.     In  writing  sr  ( connected  with  other  let- 
ters.) let  the  s  part  be  made  pretty  straight  up,  as       f    answer. 

229.  Similar  to  the  above  half  lettering,  and  with  similar  dis- 
positions of  vowels  coming  between  the  letters,  are  the  following 
contractions :   (T  sh'r,  ^  sh'd,  and  (/"  y'r. 

230.  A  word  ending  in  nt  may  have  these  letters  designated  by 
a  hook  made  too  long  for  a  vowel,  on  the  preceding  consonant ;  on 
the  foreside  if  straight,  or  on  the  inside  of  the  curve  if  circular, 
as  \   faint,  J]    *)  dependent. 

•  231.  The  placing  the  hook  for  'nt  on  the  fore  side  of  a  straight 
letter  prevents  it  from  being  confounded  with  an  ox-bow  vowel. 
Example  :  ±J\  advent,  _J\$  defy.  But  where  the  'nt  is  put  on  a 
circular  consonant  it  must  be  on  the  same  side  as  the  hooked 
vowel ;  and  it  may  be  said  that  to  write  a  hook  a  trifle  longer  for 
;nt  does  not  sufficiently  discriminate  it.  True,  it  does  not ;  but  it 
will  seldom  happen  that  both  ways  of  reading  it  will  make  English 
words,  or  if  so,  that  the  connection  will  allow  more  than  one  of 
the  words  to  make  sense.  Writing  a  vowel  before  'nt  will  always 
determine  the  case ;  and  where  this  is  done  no  harm  can  arise  by 
turning  the  hook  for  'nt  on  the  hind  side  of  a  straight  consonant, 


74  SUNDKY    CONTRACTIONS. 

or  by  making  the  hook  a  short  one.     Examples  :   ~j]  intent,  ^> 
my,  ?-$  meant. 

232.  A  dotted  vowel  is  not  read  to  a  hook,  and  therefore  may 
be  put  outside  of  it,  and  still  be  read  to  the  consonant,  as  ~\j? 
blunt. 

233.  A  z  or  s  is  added  to  the  'nt  by  turning  the  hook  inward  so 
as  to  touch  the  consonant,  as  (^  comments.    This  will  also  serve 
for  -nee;  so  that,  by  changing  the  accent  in  the  last  example  to 
the  second  syllable,  thus  (^~>  ,  it  will  stand  either  for  comments  or 
commence  :  C\J)  evidence.     D  instead  of  s  is  indicated  by  carry- 
ing the  mark  through  the  consonant,  as    Q    painted  :  ing  is  added 
to  the  hook  by  turning  a  small  loop  inside  of  it,  as    ^)"  painting. 
A  z  may  be  added  to  -nee,  as  r\^r  evidences. 

234.  The  ending  -nd  instead  of  -nt  is  shown  by  writing  the  con- 
sonant the  hook  is  on  half  length.     The  hook,  too,  must  be  made 
small,  so  that  when  looped  for  s,  it  may  not  reach  the  fore  end  of 
the  consonant.     Examples  :  «o  m'nd,  rb  minds,  _J^  d'f  'nd'd.    A 
fine  pen  is  required  for  such  little  marks.    When  there  is  time  and 
room  enough,  the  plain  way  of  writing  these  endings  is  much  the 
best. 

235.  A  long  hook  *  commencing  a  word   and  written   on  the 
foreside  of  p,  b,  f,  v  and  t,  and  the  concave  side  of  c,  g,  1  and  q, 
signifies  r  ;  written  on  the  hind  side  of  f,  v,  and  t,  it  signifies  1. 
Examples:    \f~   refer,    *]/"         return,  j^f?    relent,    ^]   write,   -f 
light. 

236.  M  and  the  hook  prefixed  signify  cm,  as  c^-J  command. 
This  hook  represents  a  small  (  written  upwards. 

237.  N  and  the  hook  prefixed,  thus  cr'~,  is  en  ;  (generally  con-}: 
This  way  of  writing  en  is  not   preferred  to  the  regular  (  _   on 
account  of  being  shorter,  but  it  is  to  be  used  on  account  of  line- 
ality,  where,  as  is  generally  the  case,  a  succeeding  consonant  has 
a  downward  direction,  as  c^^  convey. 

238.  An  r  written  downwards,  (  being  joined  to  other  letters  to 
show  that  it  is,)  is  ar,  as  ^  arm.     T  and  c  are  added  to  a  down- 
ward r  by  half  lettering,  as         mark. 


*  The  suggestion  of  these  hooks,  as  well  as  several  other  mat- 
ters, is  from  Pitman's  Phonography. 


INITIANTS    AND    TERMIANTS.  75 

INITIALS  AND  TERMIANTS. 

239.  An  Initiant  is  a  letter  made  to  represent  several  letters  at 
the  commencement  of  a  word,  by  terminating  its  end  in,  or  drawing 
it  through  the  side  of  the  letter  it  is  joined  to.  Written  the  first 
way,  v  stands  for  over-,  t  for  trans-,  n  for  inter-  or  intro-,  and  s  for 
super-.  When  drawn  through,  n  stands  for  under-  and  s  for  circum-. 

EXAMPLES. 

overturn,              M/""  transfer,  /\5—  superfine, 

understand,*      —  J/    introduce,  -^  interview, 

undertake,          —  1_  entertain,  <f^f\  circumscribe. 


240.  A  Tcrmiant  is  a  letter  made  to  stand  for  several  letters 
at  the  end  of  a  word,  by  commencing  it  in,  or  drawing  it  through 
the  side  of  the  preceding  consonant.  In  the  first  way,  b  stands 
for  -ble,  b  half  size  for  -bly,  the  foot  of  the  b  being  lengthened 
for  -bility,  m  (  after  a  hook,)  for  -ment,  s  for  -self,  s  double  length 
for  -selves,  1  for  -shal  or  -cial,  1  half  size  for  cially.  When  drawn 
through,  n  is  -xion  or  -ction,  s  is  -soever  or  -city,  or  -citude,  and  1 
is  for  -lity. 

EXAMPLES. 

y\    possible,  "X  possibly,  ^  himself, 

~        contentment,         S~-\-  infection,         ~~£-  introduction. 


^  is  shus  (-cious,)  and  ^/  is  yus  (-ious.)    They  are  joined  in  the 
usual  way,  their  tails  being  made  a  little  longer  than  for  sh  and  y. 

241.  -Ct  is  indicated  by  joining  a  short  mark  to  the  foreside  of 
the  letter  preceding  it,  as  __/9"  inspect.     This  is  not  a  contraction, 
but  is  intended  to  save  the  unsightly  appearance  of  going  over  the 
line  of  writing.     It  is  not  necessary  that  the  mark  should  be  hori- 
zontal, and  it  may  pass  through  the  letter  it  is  written  on,  forming 
one  on  the   other  side,  as   (f^  respects,   (^  respected,  £/^. 
respective. 

242.  -Tion  is  denoted  by  writing  an  _  half  length,  and  -tions 
by  writing  it  full  length,  backhanded  on  a  foregoing  letter,  as  ^ 
motion,  s~^  motions.     The  plural,  however,  may  be  made  by  z  if 
preferred,  as   c^!i     confessions.     If  the  mark  for  -tion  or  -tions 
cannot  be  written  backhanded,  write   it  as  a  terminant,  as    £J~ 
sedition.     Also  if  a  letter  follows  it,  as  .^"vv  additional.     At  the 
end  of  a  horizontal  letter  -tion  is  best  written  by  curving  the  end 
up,  thus  "    X.^  invention. 


76  REPORTING   STAGE. 

243.  A  consonant  put  a  little  above  the  first  part  of  a  word  to 
the  right  takes  -ation  after  it,  as    ^\  salvation. 

244.  A  heavy  dot  put  above  to  the  right  is  -ation,  as  /]  *  sta- 
tion.    A  z  is  added  as  a  tail  to  it,  the  dot  and  z  making  a  large 
cuspis,  as  /[*  stations,    .*  nations. 

245.  A  vowel  letter  put  in  the  place  of  the  dot  for  -ation,  signifies 
that  vowel  followed  by  -tion,  as  ( '  caution,  ^  motion.     The  z 
added  is  /^f  motions. 

Plate  No.  3,  headed  "  Breviscription,"  contains  the  first  and 
second  paragraphs  of  this  work,  commencing  "  Prominent  among". 

REPORTING  STAGE. 

246.  In  this  there  will  be  more  vowels  omitted  than  in  the  pre- 
ceding stage.     Where,  besides  the  accent,  there  is  a  long  vowel  or 
half  accent,  they  should  both  be  written.     Vowels  beginning  and 
ending  words  must  also  be  noted.     But  in  most  long  words  there 
need  be  but  one  vowel  written.     This  one  will  then  indicate  both 
the  accented  syllable  and  its  sound ;  and  when  these  two  things 
are  attended  to,  we  can  hardly  miss  pronouncing   the  word   by 
speaking  the  short  sounds  of  u  or  i  between  the  other  consonants, 
whenever   it   is   necessary  to   their   utterance.      In  following   a 
speaker,  or  whenever  a  writing  is  done  in  haste,  many  vowels  must 
be  omitted.     They  can  be  afterward  supplied.     In  hasty  writing 
also,  the  distinction  of  the  large  dot  from  the  small  one,  or  making 
a  swelled  head  to  a  letter,  will  not  be  so  strictly  attended  to; 
especially  where  a  separate  effort  is  required  to  make  it. 

In  reporting  speeches,  &c.,  many  words  must  necessarily  remain 
unwritten  at  the  time.  A  proportionate  vacancy  should  be  left,  to 
show  the  omission,  and  give  room  for  supplying  it  at  leisure. 
Such  words  especially  should  be  retained  as  will  show  the  object 
and  meaning  of  the  sentence. 

COMPOSITE  LETTERS. 

247.  By  composition  of  letters  is  meant  the  representing  two  or 
more  letters  considered  as  combined  together,  by  one  character, 
which  is  called  a  composite  letter.     This  character  must  of  course 
be  shorter,  that  is,  more  readily  formed  than  the  separate  letters 
which  it  represents,  or  there  would  be  no  use  in  employing  it. 

248.  Brief  consonants  can  be  modified  in  length,  or  in  thick- 
ness, or  in  both.     By  means  of  these  modifications,  the  five  letters 
1,  n,  r,   s,  and  d,   are,  under    certain   circumstances,  merged   in 
others,  forming  five  series  of  compounds,  as  follows  : 

249.  L.  Series.     L  is   merged  in  the  consonant  going  before 


COMPOSITE   LETTERS.  77 

it  by  swelling  that  consonant  along  the  middle  if  circular,  or 
throughout  its  length  if  straight,  to  twice  the  usual  thickness. 
Examples  :  \>  fly,  (*  clay,  /\  useful,  f\  rattle,  >  reply,  ~\ 
inflict,  ^\  revolution. 

250.  Dl,  rl,  si,  and  shl  are  written  downwards,  as  Jt*  delay, 
(*"  rely>  ^  idle.     The  curved  letters  have  a  neater  appearance 
when    swelled  only  in  the  middle,  tapering  off"  each  way.     The 
loop  of  a  letter  is  not  to  be  swelled  or  changed  in  any  of  the 
series.     As  the  head  of  a  circular  swelled  letter  is  thin,  a  long 
vowel  can  be  expressed  on  it  as  in  No.  192,  thus  |**y 

251.  N  /Series.     N  is  merged  in  a  preceding  downward  or  hori- 
zontal letter,  by  writing  it  swelled  and  half  length.     Examples  : 
J\    given,  /7~  reason,  ~x  invention,  _/)  intended,  '^)  open,  N. 
fallen,  _  ^  engine. 

252.  R.  Series.     R  is  merged  in  a  foregoing  consonant  by  writ- 
ing that  consonant  twice  its  usual  length.     Examples  :    I     true, 

fraud. 


\ 


253.  Exception.     The   lengthened   s   struck   upward  is   ss   as 
passes.     The  sr  is  made  by  half  lettering  the  r,  or  by  a 
straight,    double   length   stroke   nearly   perpendicular,    as 

passer,     /V/'    surpass.     Lengthening   the  letters  y  and  sh 
add  an  s/        and  not  r.     (No.  240.) 

254.  S  Series.     S  is  merged  in  the  consonant  following  it  by 
commencing  it  with  a  swell,  and   decreasing   to  a  small   stroke. 
Examples  (•  sky,  (,  _  stone. 

255.  S  and  z  are  merged  in  a  preceding  consonant  by  ending  it 

with  a  swell.     Examples  :       *|  notes,    (^~^  comes,    h  states. 

256.  The  s  is  merged  also  in  the  r  series,  either  at  the  begin- 
ning or  end.     Examples  :        I  master,       I  matters,      ]  spring. 

257.  D  Series.  Words  ending  in  d  or  t  may  have  these  letters 
merged  in  a  preceding  downward  consonant   by  writing  it   half 
length  and   swelling   the    end.     If  the   consonant   is   atonic,  the 
merged  letter  is  probably  t  ;  if  tonic,  d.     Examples  :  ~S  baked, 

r  c 

\     related.     Lt  following  an  expressed  vowel  is  o,  as  ^/u  result. 
Writing  the  vowel  before  this  It  prevents  its  being  mistaken  for  o. 


78  NOTATION   OF   VOWELS,  ETC. 

NOTATION  OF  VOWELS  ON  THE  FOREGOING  COMPOSITES. 

258.  A  vowel  coming  after  a  composite  letter  is  written  after  it, 
or  on  it,  as  on  a«  simple  one ;  if  the  letter  is  dotted  e  is  put  at  the 

P  I 

head,  i  at  the  middle,  &c.,  as        tree,   !•  try.     A  vowel  coming 

before  a  composite  must  be  joined  to  it,  as         nitre,  or  dotted  on 

a  previous  consonant  as       I  nitre. 

259.  The  foreside  of  composites  being  thus  unoccupied  by  fore- 
going vowels,  is  used  whereon  to  dot  out  vowels  coming  between 
the  combined  letters,     Examples :   /  seal,  Jf  or,    ^   sail,  ^ 

while,    J  pore,  ^  vessel. 

260.  A  dot  before  a  double  composite  signifies  a  vowel  between 
the  first  and  second  consonant,  as    I  tears.     If  the  sound  cannot 
be  written  by  a  dot,  write  it  by  a  brief  vowel  letter  and  put  a  dot 
beside  it,  as  H   towers.     A  vowel  letter  without  the  dot  shows  the 
sound  to  be  between  the  second  and  third  consonant,  as     I    trees. 

261.  The  substitutes,  (No.  208,)  when  written  on  the  foreside 
of  a  composite  always  precede,  as   V]   waste.     And  when  the  r 
and  1  hooks  are  prefixed  to  composites,  the  vowels  dotted  before 

them  precede,  as    "      later,  •    writers,    J    roaster,    •«   rooster. 
Vowel  letters  come  in  next  the  last  consonant,  as  =>J  retire,   ^^ 

reveal,    J  restore.     Where  there  is  a  choice  between  half  Istter- 

ing  and  merging,  the  former  is  generally  to  be  preferred. 

262.  Letters  placed  in  position  to  indicate  -ation  after  them, 

may  be  composites,  as  ^"Y.       conflagration.     A  merged  z  on  the 

detached  letter  is  -ations,  as  v*   (    vacations. 

263.  The  use  of  double  length  letters   makes   very  unsteady 
looking  lines.     This   has   to   be    submitted   to  in  hasty  writing. 


CONNECTING   WORDS,    ETC.  79 

There  can  be  but  little  objection  to  the  use  of  swelled  letters,  even 
in  careful  writing,  provided  the  writer  has  a  good  metallic  pen 
and  flowing  ink,  so  as  to  write  the  unswelled  lines  finely,  and  yet 
plainly,  and  the  swelled  lines  at  least  double  thickness. 

264.  The  connecting  of  words,  abbreviating  sentences,  &c.,  are 
matters  pertaining  exclusively  to  reporting,  and  are  not  developed 
here,  but  a  few  are  merely  hinted  at,  as  follows : 

When  several  words  expressed  by  single  letters  in  the  table  No. 
220  come  together,  they  may  be  joined,  and  yet  shown  to  be  logo- 
grams by  placing  them  a  little  above  the  common  line  of  writing. 
Many  characters  in  the  table  No.  220,  might  have  been  made 
shorter,  but  as  it  was  especially  designed  for  the  recording  stage, 
it  was  deemed  best  to  have  every  character  perfectly  plain  and 
distinct  from  all  others,  and  not  depend  on  swellings.  By  swel- 
ling the  simple  marks,  (the  half  length  and  full  length,  straight 
and  quarter  circular  letters,)  we  double  their  number ;  and  by 
swelling  the  heads  only,  or  the  feet  only  of  most  of  them,  as 
might  be  done,  we  can  also  largely  increase  them.  The  old  ste 
nographies  had  tables  wherein  each  character  stood  for  several 
words,  depending  on  its  situation  in  the  sentence  to  show  which 
word  was  meant.  Hence  it  is  evident  a  Reporter's  Table  can  be 
made  out,  embracing  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred 
words,  each  written  with  a  single  stroke  of  the  pen ;  and  although 
one  may  vary  only  in  a  slight  degree  from  several  others,  as  / 
for  as,  and  /  for  has,  or  by  not  being  written  accurately,  may  not 
be  distinguishable  at  all  when  separate  from  the  context,  yet  in  the 
context  they  may  all  be  sufficiently  legible. 

265.  This  table  would  not  only  embrace  composites  representing 
single  words,  but  composites  alone,  or  composites  joined  to  single 
letters  to  represent  several  small  words,  as  [  for  sit,  or  is  it ;  |  for 
its,  or  it  is ;  L_    for  it  is  not;  k     for  it  has  been;    ^)  for  did  not, 
£c.     The  table  would  include  some  long  words  expressed  by  their 
first  syllables,  as  )    for  opportunity,  ^-^  for  immediate,    ^  for 
immediately.     In  such  a  table,  or  in  another,  might  be  short  hand 
letters  made  twice  the  common  size,  and  swelled   to  distinguish 
them  from  the  r  series,  to  represent  common  adverbial  phrases  and 
ideas :  as,  for  instance,  C  would  represent  the  Latin  ablative  causa, 
and  stand  for  such  words  as  because  of,  on  account  of,  by  reason 


80  NOTATION   OF   VOWELS. 

of,  for  tlie  sake  of,  or  it  was  caused  by,  occasioned  by,  originated 
in,  &c.  Cn  would  be  consequence,  as  in  consequence  of,  hence  it 
happened,  £c.  Q  quantity,  either  with  respect  to  time,  distance, 
number  or  magnitude  ;  the  bigness  of  the  character  to  be  propor- 
tioned to  the  length  of  time,  distance,  &c.  Ql  quantulum,  the 
reverse  of  the  foregoing.  Ns,  necessity,  as  It  is  necessary  that  — ', 
the  matter  cannot  be  avoided  — ,  we,  he,  &c.,  must,  shall  be  obliged 
to  — ,  £c.  In  the  same  way,  Pr,  probability,  Ps,  possibility,  S, 
similarity,  G,  agreement,  P,  opposition,  D,  advantage,  R,  reference. 
Such  adverbial  and  sentential  Contractions  may  be  carried  to 
almost  any  extent.  To  be  of  use  they  must  not  only  be  fixed  in 
the  memory,  but  so  familiar  as  instantly  to  present  themselves 
whenever  needed. 

COMPARISON  OF  MR.   ISAAC   PITMAN'S   PHONOGRAPHY 
WITH   MINE. 

266.  Mr.  Pitman  uses  hooks,  small  half  circles  and  angles,  large 
and  small  dots,  thick  and  thin  dashes,  and  half  length  and  double 
length,  and  swelled  consonants.  In  my  reporting  stage  I  use  all 
these  means  too.  Our  systems  being  on  a  par  in  these  respects, 
it  may  be  desirable  to  compare  them  in  regard  to  brevity,  appear- 
ance, accuracy,  &c.  The  American  Manual  of  Phonography, 
published  by  the  Brothers  Longley,  of  Cincinnati,  contains  the 
American  Declaration  of  Independence,  written  by  Pitman's  Sys- 
tem. In  Plate  No.  4  of  this  work  I  have  inserted  as  much  of  the 
Declaration  as  will  go  into  it.  In  Mr.  Pitman's  system  the  vowels 
are  all  written  separate  from  the  consonants.  They  can  all  be  so 
written  in  mine,  too  ;  but  I  have  joined  in  some  with  the  conso- 
nants, as  being  an  easier  and  better  way  of  expressing  them. 


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